It was as if the rain evaporated before it hit the ground. Maybe that
was it. Tears never landed. Maybe they disappeared like the past, gone
in an instant....not to be remembered. It was all so fast. The time, the
moments, the light...up in the morning, sunset, night. I grew up loving
the light of the sun and then the darkness crept in and it was the
light of the moon that garnered the attention. The sun shines....all
over this planet. There are great things happening. There are bad things
happening. The sun still shines. I imagine dying on a sunny day...how
could you be sad? All the while people die all over the world on every
day of the year, my day will be no different. I hope the sun can shield
my loved ones from the hurt that comes on that day. I can't recall one
speck of the weather the day my mother died. I only remember my sister's
phone call. She was gone. My sister shrieked as she said that to me. It
was so final. In a dark sense I wish I could see my face at that
moment. I was alone when I got that call. I remember the pain of hearing
"gone". It is final when it's referring to that. My mother, gone, never
to rise like the sun again, but she rises in my mind, in my heart and
protects me from the thoughts and feelings to which I cannot control.
She is the sun in the days when my darkness is not lit up by the
moon....and she continues on in her life after this one. I can still
look at the sun and smile. It sometimes smiles back...causing a
salt-filled droplet in the corner of my eye....no different than the
drops that filled up the ocean....mixed with the rain that made it to
land so many years ago.
Friday, April 29, 2022
the landing
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
Maybe
Maybe I was scared. Maybe I was afraid of what I would do when there were no other doors to open. Maybe it was all in my head. Maybe I wasn't where I was supposed to be. Maybe I was. Maybe where I am isn't really anywhere at all. Maybe it's as confused as we are. Maybe time is passing us. Maybe we are just passing through time. What will be 100 years from now? Will they remember us from the past? How will they refer to us? How will they see us? As a friend said, "the father leaves the legacy..." What about us individually...what is our legacy? Who was I really supposed to be or did I become exactly what I was meant to be? Did those off ramps derail my trip? "Even if you're standing on the right track, you can still get hit by the train.." Will Rogers was on to something. We can put things behind us...but they are still there. I remember a time, 2000, reading those emails so fast..I didn't know how much they mattered. Sometimes I re-read them. I didnt get rid of them all. It was a time when we didn't know that emails would become memories...to last forever. Maybe I am not really writing.
"You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment."
Saturday, February 26, 2022
Sonset
“Mistakes are just opportunities to learn to be better…” That’s what I first heard this morning. Woke up at 330am worrying about things I couldn’t control run by people who choose to do wrong versus right. I would say I woke up on purpose since it was bothering me. I woke up and researched, read, checked processes until I thought I would go back to sleep. No chance. The mind was in hyper speed. Then something went off. I’ve missed a ton of sunrises. Natural ones. There was never a need to wake up when the sun was waking up. On the contrary I could’ve been going to bed when the sun was rising. Not often, but it’s happened. It’s about 28 degrees where I live. Nothing fancy about my area. It’s not a place you’d set your google map to go. It was home before, it has become home again. It’s a place of my past, maybe of my future. I can live where ever I want, yet I am here. Maybe by chance. The sun is rising. As I write (type) this to my notes on my phone, I see the sun in the distance. I am not afraid of a new day. I am grateful of the new day. The cold is the alarm clock my body always thrived off of. The cold was always my wake up call. The cold was this unsafe natural feeling I always enjoyed. Just as much as the sun. The cold makes me feel alive….the sun lets me know it’s a new day….a new opportunity to get it right. I hope wherever you are….you get to see the sun…because even on the coldest days, the brightest sun is there for you to know there are better times ahead.
I've found that there is always some beauty left - in Nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you. -Anne Frank
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Penn St.-Delco reclaims division baseball crown
WAYNESBORO -- Penn State-Delco rallied from a two-run deficit to post a 4-2 win over host Penn State-Mont-Alto yesterday to capture its second straight CCAC Eastern Division baseball championship.
The win sends the Lions into Sunday's CCAC best-of-three title series against Western Division kingpin PSU-Beaver at State College. Sunday's doubleheader begins at 11 a.m. Game 3, if necessary, will be held at 11 a.m. Monday.
After spotting Mont-Alto its two-run cushion, PSU-Delco roared back with three runs in the fifth. Tom Keogh got the rally started with a single and scored on Ryan Mattei's hit. Kevin Dorrain added a run-scoring double and Mike Pralle chipped in with an RBI single.
Mattei added an insurance run with an RBI double in the seventh to help make a winner of Mike Daloia, who scattered seven hits and went the full nine innings.
""Mike did a real nice job'' said first-year Delco coach Adam Winters. ""He never got in any serious trouble. Even when we had a little defensive lapse in the second inning, he hung in there and bailed us out.
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Phillies 8, South Philadelphia Cubs 5:
Bob Malin went 3-for-4 with three doubles and three RBIs for the Phillies. Mike Pralle (three hits) drove in two runs and Ray Stillwell smacked three hits in support of pitcher Justin Cohen, who helped himself with three hits, including a homer.
Phillies' Central aim: One more win
The Phillies followed an 8-5 victory in the opener with a 15-10 decision in game two for a 2-0 lead in the title series.
Game three of the best-of-five set is scheduled for 10 a.m. today at Kerr Field.
In the opener, Gieski racked up 12 strikeouts in a nine-inning, complete-game performance.
Keck drilled a three-run homer and teammate Ray Stillwell laced three hits and drove in a pair of runs.
For the Bluerocks, Scott Freeze (3-for-4) and Ted Miller (2-for-3, three runs scored) paced the attack.
In game two, Keck powered a two-run homer, Bob Malin lofted a three-run blast and finished with four RBIs and teammates Mike Pralle and Stillwell combined for four hits and seven runs scored.
Academy Park at ease with squeeze
The Knights squeezed out a 6-5 victory over the Rams.
Literally.
The Knights squeezed not one, not two, but three runs home for their first on-field win of the season. AP received a forfeit victory from Sun Valley when it was discovered that the Vanguards had used an ineligible player, but had not won a game on the field until Friday.
""If you can pull the squeeze bunt off, it's a good way to score a run,'' interim coach Sal Oropollo said. ""(Co-coach) Doug Ambler always kids me that we were more daring when we were coaching the JV team and we were. We did a lot of things like squeeze and steal because we were preparing the kids for the varsity. When I took over for Tony (Gagliardi as the interim coach) I thought I had to be a little more conservative. This was the first chance we had to pull it off.''
Not once, but three times.
Ray Stillwell's squeeze bunt in the third inning chased home A.J. DiGrazio with the Knights first run. Oropollo liked it so much that he ordered winning pitcher Jason Fehrle to bunt on the next at-bat.
""They (the Rams) called time to talk about strategy and that allowed me to tell Jason to bunt without having to give him a sign,'' Oropollo said. ""They (the Rams) had no idea it was coming.''
Fehrle didn't give the Rams time to react. He laid down the first pitch he saw to send Craig Still home with AP's second run. And the Knights weren't finished. In the sixth inning, with Harriton holding a 5-4 lead, Bob Malin squeezed home Stillwell to tie the game and set the stage for sophomore John Scanlan.
Scanlan slugged a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh to win it, but he wasn't the only hero. Catcher Mike Porreca threw out two would-be base stealers, and a diving catch by center fielder John Velardi prevented a big inning by the Rams.
""It was nice to win a game in the bottom of the seventh,'' said Oropollo, who has lost three games in either the sixth or seventh inning this season. ""The kids deserved it.''