Shooting baskets in the dark

I was just out on the back porch and heard two of our next door neighbor kids shooting baskets on the driveway with just the light from the back porch.

Through much of my life before college, I had a hoop on grass/dirt, not a driveway, and would shoot baskets until the ball hit me in the face because I didn't see it.

I spent so much of my early life playing basketball that it amazes me.

I was a decent toward good junior high school player. I scored 12 points and had as many assists in the 9th grade for Anawalt Junior High against Gary Junior High. The Gary High School coach even greeted me and told me he'd be looking for me the next year. I was ecstatic!

Problem was, I had reached my full height in 9th grade and when I started 10th grade at Gary High everyone else had had a growth spurt over the summer....

So I never became the star I dreamed of being, but until I went to college I would often shoot hoops until dark. I loved it, I really did.

Hearing those kids tonight brought back a flood of twilight memories and the feel of the basketball in my hands for all those years.

Something to be thankful for: those memories....