Taking Names and Keeping Score
Time to come in
Charlie Anderson
Although it seems so long ago now, I can still distinctly remember as a young child hearing my mother's voice calling my brother and me in for supper somewhere around dusk every afternoon. Naturally, loving to be outside as much as we possible could, we resisted answering the call at first pretending we couldn't hear her or couldn't quite understand exactly what she was saying. Choosing to ignore the call was short lived however because we knew when the tone in her voice was somewhat stronger on her second beckoning we had better call a halt to whatever it was we were doing and take the quickest route to the house we could find.

It always seemed the call would come at a most inappropriate time for us. Either the one on one football game we were playing was tied at the moment with neither of us wanting to leave the field until the outcome was decided or it was the bottom of the ninth and the imaginary winning run was on second base with two outs and one of us at bat destined to come up with the big hit to win the World Series. Of course in inclimate weather or on days when it was simply too cold for even the heartiest of soles, we would be on our carport playing in the NBA finals.

Inevitably on those days the call would come as one of us was at the free throw line needing to sink the all important foul shot that would clinch the victory for the Boston Celtics. We knew - just as the packed house we imagined filing the Boston Gardens did - that a miss at that critical time would cost us the game.

Still in the somewhat distant past but not nearly as long ago as my childhood it is the voice of my wife that I also clearly remember calling our two sons in for the evening meal. Just as had been the case with my mother, her initial calls seemed to go unheeded too as the boys and often a backyard full of children were embroiled in a football or baseball game they just couldn't seem to pull themselves away from.

Even though the last rays of sunshine that were quickly disappearing in the western sky afforded hardly enough light to still see the ball, spotlights on the corners of the house which had somehow been mysteriously turned on in the nick of time was more than satisfactory for those who needed only a few more seconds to score the winning touchdown or one more turn at bat to blast the game winning homerun.

Eventually, when the call from their mother had taken an unmistakably more serious tone our boys, just like my brother and I had done so many years ago, would finally make their way to the table after a short stop in the bathroom where the afternoon's sweat and dirt that covered their hands was washed away. Just as it had been in the days of my childhood, it was often around that table that the thrill of victory sitting across from the agony of defeat were able to work out their differences and the challenge for tomorrow was issued.

There were even times when the call to my sons included me because the opportunity to spend special moments in the yard with my boys was something I looked forward to. I knew that most of those moments would only come once and would soon be gone forever and I didn't want to miss them.

As I look around at our society now one of the things that disturb me most is the number of children who are missing out on the opportunities they have to be outside playing and the parents who are letting that time they could spend with their children in outside activities slip away. Although television, computers, and video games are for the most part all good things, young people spending all their time inside in front of them is not. I would challenge children and parents alike to make a commitment to spend more time in outside activities and less time inside.

If something doesn't change soon I am afraid the memories of the future generations won't be centered on mothers calling them in for the evening meal but mothers instead pleading with them to go outside and get some exercise. Is it any wonder that there is great concern about the obesity in a growing number of our young people in this country?

Until next time……..be safe!

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