One of the best parts of that fall was watching football with my father. I had done this my entire life, of course, but this year in particular, our team was winning. Everything. It was "The Perfect Season," and we shared it all. Every week, we hoped for another victory, and each week, the odds of losing seemed greater. No one in football history had ever been perfect. And for us, each week brought better weather as the southern summer passed into autumn and the days became softer, the shadows longer, the skies a deeper blue. When the cooler weather came in October, the little cracker box house became live-able, and we watched Our Football Team become The Football Team. My father, never a fan, never vociferous in betting on someone else, got a big kick out of it all, I know. And each week at half time, we'd take the football into the yard and throw it back and forth just feeling the cooling of the air and the goodness of things.
Our team was good, but it more than that. I mean, they were an odd assortment of characters representing old and new values, the old and the coming worlds. They were an anomaly at every position, it seemed, fast and slow, big and small, young and old. When the starting quarterback went down with an injury, a veteran of too many years stepped in and led them to victory after victory. Somehow, everything just seemed to work. For my father and I, the week was filled by days of anticipation and days of afterglow. And the autumn passed like that, big and dream-like. If there was nothing else, there was that. A season of glories and victories.
ohhhh, the surfer series...can't wait, the first one is fantastic. I was trying to remember a time in my life when everything was glories and victories, I'm sure there must have been one!
ReplyDeletemust be a Dolphin fan :)
ReplyDeletegood looking long board for sure.
hope everyone is having a good weekend!
surf on
D
Football and surfing.
ReplyDeleteMy first date with the eventual Father of My Children as he is now known among friends was a surfing. I borrowed a wetsuit and a board and we went up to Wellfleet. The water was cold -- the waves were good but I could barely press myself up into a standing position. Much harder than it appears. Many years of attempting to surf ensued. I have always thought being in the tube must be just incredible -- walls of water.
When I took my wetsuit off that first time -- I was astonished at the seaweed that had somehow gotten inside.
I like that photo -- very much.
I think, then, that I will pursue this series. I have a few more, but this one is the best, I think, due to the framing. I think the distance adds a quality to the image, makes it less personal and more symbolic. Maybe. One should never talk about one's "work", eh? I think that's right.
ReplyDeleteI like to talk about this type of work -- with the worker. Actually.
ReplyDelete