UMC Football

It was about this time every year, well, maybe not "every year," but it seemed like it when I was a kid...it was about this time every year when I would ride my bike up to the Methodist church and a bunch of kids would play football. 

The nature and quality of the game varied depending on how many of us there were and who it was. "Hey Steve, is your brother Pete around?" "Someone run over and see if Jules is around." "I'm on Jules' team." "We don't even know if he's gonna play..." "Yea, but if he does, I'm on Jules' team." Or Jim W or his older brother Donnie.

Jules' father had his arm amputated near the elbow. I never knew what he did for a living or how or when it happened. I guess, I considered myself lucky if I could just ignore it like it was not a thing, the way everyone else did.

But if we had enough kids, we'd have teams, usually an older kid got to be quaterback, probably because they could throw the ball the furthest. The youngest kids usually just "blocked" or "rushed" and the others would "go out for a pass." Or pretend to stay behind and block...and then take a handoff and run...

Sometimes it was just touch, sometimes it was tackle. No one from the church gave us an trouble about being there. Playing football in the fall, in the church yard, at the corner of a couple of busy roads.

But sometimes, now that I think of it, the church folks did sort of run us off. It was when they had the church fair and there were a lot of people going in and out and I think they didn't want a bunch of scruffy, yelling kids scaring away the customers. There were "booths" set up in the rooms in the basement. Candy, pretzels and always caramel apples, though I never really understood caramel apples since they were always too hard to chew. Just a pain.

But the thing that always brings it all back, without fail, is in the fall, when the dogwood berries cluster and turn red. Their leaves turn a little brown, maybe a touch of orange or red, but the berries are there letting folks know that it is that time of year again. And I don't know where a single one of those kids is now, the five way intersection is still there, but the dogwood tree is gone...and it never fails that when I see a dogwood with berries, I think about the fall weather, riding over to the church and playing football with the other kids.

Thanks, Streetview.