Old Shoes

Shea and I ran down to the softball fields down the street. They are about a mile away. We used to go there and play, but today, the state high school softball tournament was taking place on all of these fields. Oddly enough, my high school alma mater was playing, so Shea and I stuck around and watched a bit.

My 9th and 10th grade English teachers were married, Mr. & Mrs. P. Mr. P was also my softball coach. So, there he was, out on the field leading his team, while Mrs. P sat in the stands cheering them on. Chatting with Mrs. P, we reminisced about my wonderful days playing softball for her husband. We talked about the time I got hit in the head with a line drive. Mr. P said, "you ok?" As soon as I began to tell him I felt a little light headed, he simply said, "you're up next, grab your bat." Then, there was the time I got ran into by a base runner and lost all feeling in my arm. I had no idea if my glove was on or off my hand. Again, I got the, "you ok?" When I explained that I had no feeling in my hand, he simply responded by saying, "well, you're up. Grab your bat. You can bat one handed if you need to." Needless to say, he didn't let me miss much action.

Anyways, after the game I got a chance to talk to my old buddy Mr. P. It was so great to chat. He shared that he would be retiring from coaching after this season and asked about every aspect of my life. This included asking how my parents are doing. When I revealed that they were doing well, he wanted me to give a message to my father. I found this odd as I never really noticed them having any sort of relationship. He wanted me to let him know that when he cleaned out his classroom for retirement, he found a pair of his shoes. What? Why would Mr. P have a pair of my father's shoes?

Well, turns out, back in 10th grade when we read To Kill a Mockingbird, I did a project. There was a line in the book fed by Atticus Finch as he defended Tom Robinson, "walk a mile in his shoes." My project revolved around that particular line, apparently, and my dad's shoes served as Tom Robinson's in this case. I guess I never brought them home, so now Mr. P has them twelve years later. 

Besides this, Mr. P expressed his sadness that I will be moving to Cleveland come next month. He heard this through the grapevine. However, he wishes me the best and knows that that is 100% where I belong. That Mr. P was always a very smart man!