At the Parade

We were as a gathering of animated ants. Several hundred of us from my hometown huddled as one under the bowels of this giant stadium. On temporary hold.

Many were 12 year old boys. With mother or father, sister or brother, an occasional grandparent and maybe one or two outliers like me. Ready for our closeup Mr. DeMille.

I had never in the many decades I have been here (or in the former here) placed a foot on the same terra firma as those whose toil we cheer or, occasionally boo (I'm looking at you, new Yankee closer).

We were given admonition by those wearing jackets and ear pieces for work that we were not, under any circumstance, to touch the walls or put even a pinky toe on the grass. We were strictly and only to walk the dirt track that ringed the perimeter. And we were not to stop while taking pictures. Anyone who deviated from this dictate subjected all of us to immediate revocation of our collective moment in the sun.

I was juggling two yearbooks, an extra baseball hat (our gift as a group) and a hockey like baseball jersey (our reward for being one of the first 18,000 to make our way into this place today). So attempting under these conditions to capture the majesty of the moment was far beyond the capability of one as completely and hopelessly inept as I.

After a considerable wait, we were freed from the confines where we had been corralled and moved forward into the fading daylight. This parade of Little Leaguers and the multitude that surrounded them now on hallowed ground. The same place where the kings of this endeavor plied their trade, where battles were won or heartbreak was doled out as one's unhappy lot. Heroes and lesser beings having forever traveled these very grounds.

Those seated in the stands were wholly oblivious to our undertaking. Maybe giving it a momentary glance. For this was definitely not the purpose of their visit. Likely they were examining their new jerseys, ordering their food, checking their phones, discussing the latest on the trade wars with China (that last one added just to see if you were still paying attention). Waiting for the contest to commence. We were at best a small distraction.

And then it was over. When we completed our circumnavigation of this our tiny universe we exited from where we began. Our 15 minutes of something remotely resembling self declared fame now sadly concluded.

I was but mere add on here, an aside of an aside, but it mattered not. For I was after all this time, all these decades looking down on this field, now looking up towards the heavens. Not one of the ants scurrying about, but a man standing near home plate flooded with a million memories.