Our Nostalgic Father’s Day

Joe and I always have a really hard time thinking of gifts for Daddy. What do you get for the man who has everything or gets what he wants when he wants it? It’s so hard that we have resorted to giving a Home Depot gift card at every major gift-giving event. We don’t like doing it because it seems like a cop-out, but we also know it is exactly what he wants. See Daddy is real handy at fixing things and making things out of wood, so Home Depot is his heaven. 

Trying to break these old habits, I really wanted to do something different. I got to thinking about the “old” days and the things we used to do together when it was just the three of us. My parents divorced in my early teen years. Joe and I lived with Mother, but spent weeks in the summer with Daddy. At the time, Daddy was in the Army and stationed at Fort Gordon in Augusta, GA. When it was time for us to stay with him, he would travel to Montgomery, pick us up from our Papa’s house and take us to Augusta. We made many trips from Montgomery to Augusta with him over the years and no trip was ever complete without a stop in Atlanta for a Braves game or two. With that, our Father’s Day gift was a no-brainer.

This Father’s Day, Joe and I took Daddy to a Braves game, just the three of us. The last time we were there together, the Braves were still in Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. I believe it may have been the summer of 1991. That year, the Braves roster held such names as Mark Lemke, Terry Pendleton, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, David Justice, Ron Gant, and one Deion Sanders.   

Joe got to pick the seats and he put us in left field, which just missed putting us in the shade. It was as hot as the blazes of hell in Atlanta that day and the sun was right over us. We felt like we were sitting under the heat lamp. After a couple of strategic moves, we finally found ourselves a cool place in the shade with an occasional breeze.

Despite the heat, it was a great game. The Braves beat the Texas Rangers 4-2 and saved the series sweep. My new favorite Brave, #5 Freddie Freeman, went 3 for 4 with 1 RBI and was named the player of the game. Freddie hit a fly ball to deep left field which bounced off the warning track and over the fence for a ground rule double. The game saving catch was made by leftfielder, Nate McLouth. Left field ended up being the place to be.  

Daddy kept saying that this would be a memorable Father’s Day and it will be. We had the best time just being together, like old times.