In the past few weeks, several very special emails from dear friends have landed in my yahoo inbox, requesting that I vote to help save America's Playing fields. Each of the emails had a link that led to the Kelloggs Frosted Flakes site. I finally took the time to download the link and within minutes was seeped in a rash of nostalgia. Pictures of my old life...my young life.
According to the site, Kelloggs Frosted Flakes is footing the bill to help rebuild the playing fields across America. There will be 30 lucky winners! All we have to do is VOTE. The most important one to me is Rock Field in my little home town of Childress, TX. RockField is in the semifinals with May 31, 2009 being the deadline for voting. You may vote once a day. Here is the link for anyone who is interested in helping:http://www.frostedflakes.com/?gclid=CM6DibzznZoCFR7yDAoduiHN-g&gclid=CM6DibzznZoCFR7yDAoduiHN-g#/plant-a-seed/ .
As I sit here looking at the pictures of my youth, so many memories come to mind. My very first experience with Rock Field other than knowing that it was in the big park where my uncles played baseball, was when I was in the 2nd grade. My closest and most trustworthy friend, Raenell, and I had decided to run away to Hollywood. I am still not sure why Hollywood, except that Otto Preminger was looking for new, fresh talent for his new film, Joan of Arc. We just knew we were the ones he wanted, so we planned for weeks to make our escape to our new life. We were going to stay with Lana Turner because she was the only one who would answer our fan mail letters. Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon never responded but they were on our list of people to meet once we got there.
We snuck out of the school house @ lunch time and walked to the WagonWheel where my mother worked as a waitress. The cafe was very busy so no one noticed when we stole my mother's car. She always left the keys in the car so I knew it would be easy to "take" the car. Stealing was not part of my vocabulary, so that never entered my mind. I was just tall enough to reach the pedal to start the car and drive it down the alley before it stalled and I wasn't able to get it started again. Thank god!
Raenell and I got out of the car and walked to the nearest safe spot where we planned to hide until dark, then we were going to continue on our trip. The closest safe place was Rock Field. We saw the dugout and ran like crazy to get there before we were spotted.
I can remember the feeling of awe that totally consumed me when I stepped down into the dugout. This was the place where the big guys stayed during the baseball games! We were on Holy Ground. It was also just a pretty cool place to play and have a picnic. That was when I pulled out the food I had brought along for the trip. For weeks, Ihad been saving part of my dinner and stashing it in a handkerchief , then carefully putting it into a special box especially for the Hollywood trip! needless to say, the food was molded. I didn't know that food molded! Now THAT was an experience. Raenell convinced me that it probably was no longer good to eat.
Not long after that, we were discovered by Tuffy Maddox, the Chief of Police. We were toast! Busted! Raenell and I were not allowed to even speak to each other for years.
As I look at the pictures of the baseball diamond, I can see our boys playing that wonderful All American Game, Baseball. We grew up with some of the best athletes and some of the cutest boys God ever put on the face of this Good Earth. Charlie Mashburn, "Chicken" Mitchell, Jim Wilcoxson, "Moose" Meek, Tommy Fleming, Hugh Gayle Frith, Wayne Havens, Doug Greer, Barry Wakefield,Harold Simmons, Mike Spradley, Eddie Huddleston, Joe Don Hopkins, Don Morgan, just to name a very few. I can hear the cheers when one of them hit a homerun. I can smell the fresh earth as they ran around the bases, and can still feel the pride of the community as we shared our lives.
There was a time when you could leave your front door unlocked without the fear of some unwanted intruder entering. You could leave your keys in your car and not fear that it would be stolen. Afterall, that only happened in the big city, not is Childress! And there was a time when Children were safe and two little second grade girls could walk safely on a major hiway so they could steal a car just to run away to Hollywood, then end up safely hidden in the baseball park! There was a time when Baseball was THE Game. There was a time of camraderie in a community. Maybe that is what Kelloggs is trying to give back to America by replacing the playing fields. At any rate, I thank them.
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