Feeling like somewhat of a local, listening to the Friday night high school football scores on the local TV station. All my little towns are playing against one another! Harriman beat Midway, Morristown East won, not so for Morristown West. Wondering what happened with Rogersville, Anyone know about Oak Ridge? Fun to think I’ve walked by several of these high schools and their stadiums, and how life goes on, kids are playing football like they’ve have for years, families supporting and rooting for them… good stuff, and here I thought they only played football in Texas! (not really). There’s one team I’m rooting for, only because of its name, and that is, Happy Valley High School… go Warriors! The Warriors of Happy Valley… hmmm.
Beautiful day between Rogersville and Kingsport, getting a taste of what may finally be Fall. Nice brisk morning. Amazing what a difference two little flipped numbers can make! I promised I wouldn’t mention the heat until it was gone… well it’s gone. It’s supposed to be in the sixties tomorrow, no more than seventies next week. So civilized.
Also gone are the b’s on the feet, though I am cringing at breaking in yet another pair of Salomons… I’ve got no more than a handful of days left on these before you’ll be able to see my socks through the soles. Only got the length of Tennessee out of this pair, having bought them in Memphis 4 weeks ago today, which seems like a couple of months ago!
… and then I fell asleep.
Woke up this morning, new day, so this is now old news, with this page staring at me on this laptop. Got a little bit of a late start last night, but so well worth it. Had dinner in Kingsport with Tony and Linda. Tony was by boss for a handful of years at Kodak, and was without a doubt, the best boss I’ve ever had, for the sole reason that he let us all do our jobs. When we started off, the ground rules were set, clearly communicated, and that was it, we just did what we had to do, and fortunately, were all pretty good at it. Learned a lot from Tony, good solid business mind, and a pleasure to work with. Had a great conversation, which thankfully had little to do with work and the old company. There are much more interesting things to talk about.
And I circle back to the high school football… several times along the way I have been reminded of my own football career as an RLS Pirate. Mine was much more significant than spectacular, in that I had my first knee injury during my junior year. Back then it healed quickly, as things do when you’re a healthy seventeen year old. But that injured knee has been somewhat of an issue all my life, and has somehow shaped a lot of things that have happened, including this walk. More on that to come soon.
And so we move on… https://www.walktothepark.com/sixty-two-adios-tn