Moments to Remember (An Ongoing Thread)

[Sam]

This is where to post about meaningful moments or influences, in or out of sports, that you have experienced and make you feel good just by telling about them.

[worcester]

Moments to remember - that's a pretty ambitious goal for those of us in these pre-Alzheimer's moments of our lives.

[Sam]

Are you kidding,Worcester? You've got more moments to remember than the average bear. One or two of them might not even involve women.

Sam

[worcester]

Well there was that one encounter with a shark off Boca Grande...

[Sam]

Oh yeah? What was her name?

[worcester]

No, honestly, it was my first dive on a modern wreck off Boca Grande in 44 feet of water... I was with my dive buddy Mark, a Navy SEAL, and had spent very little time underwater. We went down the anchor line to the wreck, and sitting just atop it was a shark, about six feet in front of which was a big grouper. I was pretty concerned about our situation, but that paled in comparison to how I felt when Mark took out his speargun and hen shot the grouper. Blood started spurting out of the little creature, and I shot to the surface - lucky I didn't get an embolism. Mark calmly reeled it in and couldn't understand what the fuss was all about when he got back on the boat. The shark was sleeping he said. Now how would he know that?

[Sam]

Wow, I'm glad you high-tailed it out of there. I wonder if the scent of blood could have awakened the shark (if it was really asleep in the first place).
Sam

[Matty]

Three nights ago i found myself halfway between the bottom of the grand canyon and the upper rim on the southern side of the G.C.. on part of what is known as the Bright Angel Trail.. we (some hot gal u've all heard me talk about and her pal) were camping for the night at Indian Garden which was about 4.5 miles from the rim of the canyon and after setting up camp we three hiked out to Plateau Point...

several folks were already there and more joined us and i'd seperated myself from most the other folks who were at the lookout station and had taken refuge on a sliver of a point more to the West which looked out over the Colorado River who was roaring 1300 feet below us...

eventualy my old pal made her way over to the edge where i was enjoying the veiw, some folks had been there with me for a bit, then eventualy left leaving "the Kid" and i alone.. sometimes we talked, sometimes just enjoyed the veiw in silence as the sun set and the moon began taking over its nightly duties..

slowly the size of the group enjoying the veiw dwindled untill there were only five of us left.. my pal, I, her buddy from NM, and another couple.. eventualy THOSE THREE became somewhat more quite than they had been and at times the only sound that could be heard was the rushing waters 1300 feet below us..

those moments, when the only sounds heard came from the river, with my best and most beloved freind sitting beside me enjoying one of the greatest veiws on earth were simply amazing, i'll never forget that as long as i live..

i was dirty, smelled so bad i could hardly tolerate it, poorer than dirt yet felt like i was the King of the World!

Yesterday we were in the grand canyon vilage general store and saw a t shirt that depicted a hiker on a trail and had a capton that said "Let others hike the coperate ladder"

I saw that and immediatly thought about the evening two nights earlier back at the point..

so often people look to "get ahead" or put a career ahead of everything else in life looking to get rich or succseed in life, often costing them relationships with their family and freinds. I sat there in that store thinking about everything one could do to chase after all the material riches this world can offer and some of those who could afford anything they wanted. Bill Gates, Ted Turner, ect.. then i thought back to the night before sitting out on that plateau with my best frend and had no doudts about it, the previous night with my freind at my side and looking out over the grand canyon by moonlight no man on earth had been richer than me..

later still I found out that right about the time i was sitting out there on that ledge the Celtics were in the process of beating the Magic.. yes life was good!

[Sam]

Matty,

With a photographer's mentality, I'm sure you have seared this memory into your brain for life, as has your pal! It's all very largely about perspective isn't it? And you did a great job of describing the indescribable. Thanks for sharing that moment with us.

[pete]

Matty,

Cool story, and something I can relate to. I'll try to make it brief, so here goes.

In the 80's I climbed the "corporate ladder" to the point that I was traveling 3 weeks a month, married with 2 small boys. I was making decent dough, had good benefits, etc. I came home one day and saw my son sitting upright with a ball in front of him, when did that happen?.......So, I took a 50% pay cut, moved from Nashville, TN back home. Left the co. car, expense account, and everything else on the table. I was around to help raise my kids, coached basketball, soccer, delt with the feelings of being unimportant anymore, etc.

Fast forward to 2009, I had my own business, decent paycheck, my wife had a good job, then...youngest goes to college. I get the bright idea to sell out, and move to Florida without a real plan on how to make a living. Again, the holy grail, was quality of life. I realized that based where I was financially, , I might never be able to retire, so why not "pretend" we were semi retired and live somewhere where it felt that way.

So, here I am 1 year later, always fight the impracticality of my decision, again feeling "unimportant" making 50% of what I used to, watching my friends with careers who are feeding their 401Ks, and wondering if I made the right choice. Was my mid-life crisis, so to speak, a mistake?

Well, I'm really not sure, but I will tell you this, today was 75, the sunset was spectacular, and I'm not hungry.

Pete

[Sam]

Pete,

I've been pretending I was retired since I was 32 and started my own company. Mrs. Sam and I have never made an important decision that wasn't based primarily on lifestyle and togetherness. "The company" became our provider, our debtor, our creditor, an excuse, a tax hedge, a noun, a verb, our mentor, our beneficiary, our landlord, our tenant, a virtual entity at least 20 years before I ever heard that term, an entree, a cornucopia of travel and other unforgettable experiences (including our Paris passion), a source of myriad lifelong friends, an employer for my kids, and a host of other things. We went through so many recessions that I once told our accountant I was going to write a book on either how to make money through losses or how to lose money on every project but make up for it in volume. Now, 41 years later, with the company winding down but still viable, we continue to make every key decision based on lifestyle and togetherness. We wouldn't have it any other way.

Sam

[Matty]

Sam & Pete,

when i was about 20 i had lunch with some freinds who knew a man who'd survived the nazi concentration camps and once offered this peice of wisdom he'd come to apreciate about life based on his experinces during the years he was imprisoned.

during a meal he took a coffee cup and help it up to everyone and said, "see this, this is all you need, some food in here, the clothes on your back, some shelter.. everything else is a luxery,even a spoon to eat the food with.

I've sort of tried to live by that, keeping life simple by not owning much materially and trying to enjoy the simplier pleasures life has.. aint regretted it a bit yet!

[worcester]

Pete, I walked Siesta Key beach tonight. What a warm and wonderous sunset.

[RosalieTCeltics]

I have learned in 40 years of marriage that money is not always the one thing that determines your happiness. We married at 23 after he returned from VietNam, and had a daughter ten months later. We were excited when we found out that I was going to have a baby, my father in law was ecstatic, only to have a massive heart attack one month before she was born, and pass away one month after. That was the beginning of a life full of heartache. My son was born three months too soon, weighed 2lbs5oz and dropped to 1lb10 ozs, spent three months in the hospital and came home right around when he was due to be born. My husband decided to change jobs, and ended up getting laid off from the company one year later.

At 32 years old, my husband lost his brother who was 38, two years later a brother who was 36. His life was in a spiral that just didn't want to stop.
I didn't preface this by telling you that he had a mother with Polio who was a parapelegic and a brother who was in a car accident and was a quad.
He had a tough time in his thirties, but somehow pulled himself up by his bootstraps and became a successful mechanic for the police, a union president for 10 years and a wonderful father, that of course came first

So, as life has gone on and we have lost friend after friend at young ages, we resolved ourselves that, even though we may not be rich, we would enjoy what time we have here on earth with the friends and family we have.

Matty, reading about your trip to the Grand Canyon brings back memories, we went out there a couple of years ago and loved it.

So, I guess the moral of this long winded story is, ENJOY LIFE, ENJOY FRIENDS, AND MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME HERE. Who knows what the future will bring.

[pete]

Rosalie,

I can't believe all the things that you and your husband have dealt with. it certainly shows what is important.

Sam, after lousing my shirt on my first house, I too was going to write a book,
"How I Turned $100,000 In Real Estate, Into $25 In Cash"

Matty, I believe he is right.

Worcester, it was really nice last night, I haven't forgotten about getting together for a game.

Pete

[Sam]

To Those Who Care:

A little reminder that today, June 6th, is the 67th anniversary of D-Day. I realize it's just one of many battles in many wars. Perhaps it's because I personally recall the day so vividly that D-Day—and most particularly what transpired at Omaha Beach—symbolizes to me all that is right about America. I've never heard of a military conflict approaching the magnitude and importance of D-Day in which virtually everything went wrong except the outcome. And I believe the outcome was due primarily to the fortitude, persistence, and bravery of the Greatest Generation.

In 1984, Mrs. Sam and I had the honor of being on Omaha Beach as they staged a 40th anniversary mock invasion. It was a sunny day. Kids were sucking their lollipops and merrily playing. Even the many veterans in attendance were in an upbeat mood. But the hills behind the beach commanded the lion's share of my attention. Many German emplacements are still in their positions of dominance overlooking the beach.

I kept wondering, over and again, "How could they do it? How could they do it? Overcome with seasickness. Covered with their own vomit and that of comrades, many now having lost their lives. Dropped farther from shore than planned, with heavy packs on their backs. Thoroughly exhausted from fighting to reach land, help fallen comrades, and dodge the fields of fire.

Finally, clambering through the waves, weaving through the many metal barricades, moving one leaden leg after the other. Flopping to eat sand as the German fire grew more intensely focused. Crawling over nearly 100 yards of open sand at the rate of a few feet every 30 minutes. Trying to engage a camouflaged enemy in full knowledge that every shot would attract many in return. How could they do it? How could they do it?

I looked, in the distance over to the left, at Point du Hoc, where Army Rangers scaled a sheer 40-foot cliff to knock out a German machine gun emplacement. What could have raced through their minds? Certainly, immense fear, perhaps fleeting mental images of loved ones, but mostly the will to continue, hand over hand.

The veterans with whom we spoke in 1984, almost to a man, boiled it down to one simple mantra. "You did what you had to do." President Reagan included that phrase in his immensely moving speech at the American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach a couple of hours later. It's available at http://thetension.blogspot.com/2009/06/flashback-video-president-reagans.html. Regardless of one's politics, I guarantee there was not a single dry eye around the reflecting pool at the end of that speech.

I returned to Omaha Beach two years ago to make a video for a friend whose father lived through the first assault wave on Omaha Beach. He's no longer living, and he never talked much about the war. But, after his death, she found a journal he had written about D-Day. It's pretty terse. One entry, written on the trip from England to the beaches, reads, "Attacked by enemy plane. Drove them off." So matter of fact.

When Carol gave me a copy of the scribbled words, I was able to glean enough to do a fair amount of research, including pinpointing the portion of Omaha Beach, in St. Laurent, where her dad landed. And here, with his own description and the later research intertwined, is Carol's dad's story of D-Day.

John J. Burke was the commander of one of only two LCTs (they carried troops and tanks) to make it to shore within an hour of the designated time. He actually towed another LCT in to the beach. He landed his boat, dropped the ramp, and it hit a mine and was blown away. He discharged the tanks and troops and was under fire for two hours on the beach as he tried to figure out how to take off.

His orders had been to get out of there as quickly as possible without engaging the enemy. But he couldn't turn and go frontward because, without the ramp as a forward barricade, the boat would simply have scooped up water and sunk. While he was trying to think about how to leave, he turned a machine gun on the Germans against orders.

Finally, he realized his only chance lay in backing off the beach and getting as far as he could before the boat filled. That's what he did, and the boat did fill and sink. But fortunately he was rescued by one of the other LCTs that was late in arriving. It's unclear whether he had to go through a second invasion with the late boat. But he did make it through the war safely, and his boat was awarded a Battle Star (a fact he never revealed to his daughter or in his journal).

So, for me, this day is dedicated to Carol's dad, John J. Burke, to LCT 2307, and to the thousands of other heroes who didn't make it.

I apologize if this post is too political for some tastes. You're welcome to let me know if you disapprove.

Sam

[beat]

Sam

Anyone that even has a small problem with this. Has a great deal of "other" problems.

Lest we forget

beat

[celtic fan]

well I don't have anys stories quite like the ones I read but here goes.

This spring, put together a 14' trampoline in my tiny backyard for my boys. Come home one night about 1.5 weeks after I got it togther, my 3.5 yr old runs out back, climbs a chair and into the trampoline (has a saftey net). I'm in the kitchen look out back, there he is naked as the day he was born bouncing around on the trampoline free to see by any neighbours LOL.

kids are kooky

[Matty]

Well once again, three nights ago i found myself halfway between the bottom of the grand canyon and the upper rim on the southern side of the G.C. on part of what is known as the Bright Angel Trail..

For this round of adventures there was same Hot gal, same freind of hers (now a good freind of mine as well), two of HER sisters, both whom im pretty dang close to, and one of the sisters husbands, who being a more recent addition to the family, i didnt know so wel, but was taking a liking to the more i got to know him...

so the 6 of us found ourselves back at Platueo Point once again, just like back in january. We took the obligatory group shots as we waited for first sunset and then the moon to rise, in between we talked to the newfound canadian freinds (who left before the good bits) before everyone broke off into little groups and did their own sightseeing.. i spent most my time trying to take some pictures...

like the last time, i was hungry and dirty and smelled something awefull, but had with me in thaat group my best freind and again, like earlier i felt like the richest man on earth.. only a bit nervous.

There i was with one of the greatest veiws on earth and i found myself hardly able to really consider the awesomeness of creation before me (well the canyon i mean, my gal has a nice rack which im always willing to consider under any circumstances..)

See the problem is, I'd sort of promised my freind that someday her and i would return to Platue Point- together. it wasnt one of those things u do once and never again, we had both enjoyed it- and being together way to much. After our first trip out there in January, i'd hiked back out the following morning to get some photographs of the sunset.. and the previous night had promised to leave some sort of memento hidden there for her to find the next time we'd returned together....... and sonofamotherlessgoat, i'd forgotten to complete this all so important task!!!

Recently since this recent trip was getting planned she'd asked about what sort of memento i'd left, and mentioned how she was looking forward to going back and retreiving it.. what was i to do?

I came up with a pretty decent idea...

so there we were out on Platue Point, her family, our freind and others enjoying the canyon veiw and i got her to come over by me all alone, and explained it was time for her to get her little memento, i told her it was hidden behind a ledge out of everyone elses veiw... she was just a little excited, and as she turned away from me to look for the said object...

while she was turned away from me, i fell to one knee and removed the box i'd been carrying for the last 5 days, opened it and told her to turn around.. she did so and suddenly found herself in front of some stinky, dirty unshaven Celtics fan on one knee with a diamond ring shoved at her and hearing the words "will you marry me..?

let me tell you, that girl is a damn good kisser and once again, I feel like the richest man in the word!

P.S. in the previous account of the grand canyon, i mentioned a shirt i saw at one of the stores on top of the canyon that talk about letting others climb the corperate ladder.. this time, i bought it.

[beat]

Matty

I gather she did not push you over the edge?

( We'll actually in many ways I guess she did.............?

Congrants,

beat

[bobc33]

Matty!

Awesome buddy congrats!

[RosalieTCeltics]

Awe Matty-You big romantic! Congratulations, she is a lucky girl, what a great
story.

Good Luck

Rosalie

[Matty]

thanks folks! I gotta tell ya, ive never been happier im my life, today we picked the likely weekend, bought our outfits and the rings and are looking at airfare and renting a small place for a select group of family & freinds to be at the wedding. its looking like im gonna be a married man before the year is out....!

[Outside]

Great story, Matty. The best part about it is that your happiness shines through. Congratulations!

[Sam]

Matty,

Congratulations aren't really enough. I mean you've been pursuing this dream for a long, long time. A few months ago, you pursued it halfway across the country. Now you've pursued it farther into the depths of earth than many people will ever experience. You made it happen, and obviously, she was primed to be ecstatic about it.

I was going to remark on what a quick thinker you are. But that box and its contents didn't suddenly materialize out of nothing. So I'd rather call you an opportunistic thinker as well as one of the greatest guys I've never met.

I think back to when you mailed me huge, that beautiful book of photographic art that included my favorite Vargas Girls. It really touched me then, and it really touches me now and whenever I look through it.

Both of you deserve the greatest happiness life can bring, and I'm extremely proud to call you my friend. Now, so we won't just be thinking of her as "wife of friend," how about telling us her first name or nickname? In the meantime, please tell her how delighted we all are for both of you, and keep us informed about the happy details as they transpire.

All the best,

Sam

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