There’s something about a Friday night in September and I just love.
The summer’s grip is slowly loosening up and we are looking towards more seasonable temperatures this coming week. It won’t be too long before chilly nights will be the norm and shadows get longer.
Who doesn’t look forward to a Friday? When I was in high school, there was something about getting out of school for the weekend and looking forward to the football game in the evening.
Before the big game and it being a Friday, that meant it’s pizza night. Some have pizza before the game and some wait until after the game. Either way, pizza always tasted better on a Friday.
Back in a day, post game meant a stop at Grablick’s Dairy Bar where you had to wait in a very long line to get in.
Later in my teens, Friday night was a night knowing I got to hang out with my girlfriend after a long week.
One tradition I miss and I know hundreds of other Wyoming Area grads miss and West Pittston Rams before that, was the parade from the stadium to the former high school at Montgomery Avenue.
It was there the band would get on the steps and play the alma mater. The team would take the bus from the stadium to the high school and the players were let off in front of the school. When you are a pre-teen or early teen, that’s a pretty powerful image. Every boy wanted to be a Warrior football player.
Today, the bell ringing at the north end tower has replaced the trip down Wyoming Avenue to the high school. It’s the same bell that used to toll when it’s home rested at the Montgomery Avenue School.
It’s crazy, all these years later, those same feeling rush in on a Friday night. Who wants to grow up? Not me.
I’m sure those same feelings run through the veins from students and fans from Pittston Area. There is nothing like Friday night high school football.
I covered the Warriors against a very tough Crestwood Comets. Even though Crestwood was 0-2 going into the game, they are probably the best 0-2 team in the league. They had a lot of talent and that showed up, as the game was tied 22-22 halfway through the fourth period.
The Warriors went up 29-22 and that’s the way the game ended improving their record to 3-0. In a blink of an eye, the season will be halfway over. That’s pretty crazy how time is flying by.
I just love September and it’s not because it’s my birthday month or my cancer free anniversary month, maybe it’s because it’s a transition month when we go from summer to fall.
I love summer, as many of you know, but if I could narrow my seasons down to two, it would be summer and fall … spring can be very iffy and winter … well, just yuck.
In a month from now, leafs will begin to show bright colors as they begin to decay and die and fall off the trees. I’ve always found that to be a sad time for me.
For that brief time during foliage, I love to take a drive, especially on a blue sky, sunny day when I marvel at the brilliant colors of the trees line up against the blue sky. It’s perfection and it’s free.
The 8th of September is my anniversary when I was given a second chance on life with I underwent cancer surgery. It was a surreal time of my life and it’s almost like I had an out-of-body experience. Never did I believe it could happen to me, but it did.
After my denial period was over and I realized that I was nothing special and cancer sees no bounds or limits or age or sex or race.
All I knew was what everyone says, “Cancer sucks.” And it does.
I had a grueling 4.5-hour surgery followed by a 4.5-hour recovery and all I thought about was my family and how I kept them waiting for nine hours while I was getting my cancer eradicated.
I had the choice of having surgery here at home or outside the area. In retrospect, maybe I should have had it away where robotic surgery was pretty normal while we did not have it offered here in NEPA.
Dr. Michael Campenni did a great job of ridding the cancer and here I stand 17 years later.
How can I complain about that? On the 8th, I worked, wrote a few articles, edited photos, shot a tennis match, a 55th class reunion for Pittston Area 1968, and finally shot the football game I mentioned earlier.
I even squeezed in playing tennis for about 90 minutes and was completely soaked at the end of the workout. There’s nothing like hitting tennis balls and it’s a way to clear my mind of everything.
I’ve played tennis all of my adult life and raised two daughters to play the game and excel.
I’ll look forward to my birthday Tuesday and hopefully play some tennis too.
Thought of the Week
“In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Quote of the Week
“Be grateful for what you already have while you pursue your goals. If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more.” – Roy T. Bennett
Bumper Sticker
“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.” – John F. Kennedy
