Changes don't take away fun

I was at a family picnic Sunday when a conversation caught my ear.
“We’ve got to get Ray out here,” said one cousin, who was among a group tossing a football around.
“The old guy can’t hang,” another cousin responded.
I turned to two of my aunts and said, “Did you hear that? I’m being referred to as ‘the old guy’ back there.”
They just laughed at me.
And then, of course, I immediately strolled to the back yard and joined in the makeshift football game.
As I think about that picnic, it strikes me how much, and how quickly, life changes.
I was once the child whose birthday party was the reason for the gathering. Pictures show me grinning behind a birthday cake decorated to look like Disney’s Goofy, a creation that took my mom hours to make and would soon be devoured in a matter of minutes.
I remember being the kid begging his uncles to come outside and play basketball or baseball or football. That seems to be especially important in the early teenage years, when we think we’re one of the adults but really aren’t even close.
And now, apparently, I’m the “old guy.”
I certainly don’t feel old. I later told my Aunt Kate that I don’t feel any different than I did when I was 22. It all seems the same.
But then I think about most of the kids who were involved in tossing the football around the back yard. I held them all, with one exception, when they were in diapers.
The exception was my cousin Jim, who is a year younger than me. Two of his kids were running around that back yard, playing with my 5-year-old niece Tatiyana.
Life has definitely changed, even in the past year.
At the picnic the family planned an outing for June 16. That day is Father’s Day this year, but it was also my grandma’s birthday. We’ll be attending a church service in her remembrance and then gathering for breakfast afterward.
She died in August after being diagnosed with cancer, her passing coming less than two weeks after the birth of yet another of her great-grandchildren.
Tatiyana, who I swear was just born a few months ago, just graduated from preschool and will start kindergarten in the fall.
And two of my cousins will be married by year’s end.
The change is constant.
One of the things I like about living in Jay County is that while I’m 200 miles away from where I grew up, I still get to be around to see those changes.
Sure I miss some family events. But for the most part, I get to be around for the big moments — holidays, weddings and even funerals.
And don’t worry Patrick, Michael, Markus, Nick, Tommy and Scott, I’ll be around this summer to toss the football, shoot baskets and play a game of cornhole.
I may be “the old guy”, but those back yard games are still just as much fun as they always have been. Whether I can “hang” or not, that will never change.[[In-content Ad]]