WATCH YOUR HEAD

And cries could be heard far and wide as the hunger set in.  The peanut-butter jar was now empty and echoing the sounds of despair as the knowledge set in that no sandwich would be made this day.  But then Kraft the Redeemer took up the jar of vacant nuts and oils and began to scrape at the walls with an unadorned knife, transforming this simple jar from a useless, hollow item into something hallow.   The cool metallic clanks of steel on glass could be heard resonating throughout the kitchen, as hungry urchins held their breath and stared with bulging eyes.  Witnesses would recount far into the future the fantastic spectacle they beheld, as little by little peanut-butter continued to fall from the jar upon the toasted bread, creating a meal where no meal sat before.  Songs of rejoicing illuminated the linoleum surface and drifted out through the open windows, for today a miracle was witnessed – the miracle of the Immaculately Conceived Sandwich.

I understand the extent
of my contradictions
And reconciliation is
why I am here.
A purposeful life is
the reason for being,
Under the sun we can’t
hide from our fears.

Walk so my steps fall silent,

Breathe so my lungs feel power,

Fragmented thoughts fall away,

Without moments of self-reflection.

Finally. Morning. The only day more important to an 11 yr. old baseball nerd than Christmas. Opening Day. Having grown up watching nothing but WGN and TBS broadcasts since infancy, today is like watching the rock move aside on Easter Sunday and nothing less. We have the tickets, which I hold, and park. Mile High Stadium, glorious host to years of Broncos triumphs as well as Bono and the Boss, looms large as the Roman Coliseum in front of me. The Horse..Bigger than life when seen even at at distance, rears in Glory, almost daring my fanhood, even as a child, unknowing of what it really stands for. As the usher takes the flimsy piece of paper that represents all that my young life has stood for, and tears it, I feel a sense of justification. Although my testicles have not yet felt the groan of manhood, I feel something important has passed. Something only the ancients have spoken of. The smells envelope my underdeveloped naustrum as I take in the wonder. 76,273 seats greet me, as though they know what I’m in for, yet daring me to find out for myself. As my young mind swirls in wonder, I sense something bigger than me, something which, although conveyed through tube screens, can never be realized until realized in the flesh. The walk to the seats seems as if in a dream, floating on some weightless pillow of pre-adolescent fantasy.
The first pitch is thrown before a sound is made. In my young mind, it’s all silent anyway. As if all a dream.
Top of the 1st over, Rox come to bat. My vantage point tells me that I’m just close enough to know that I really am here. The players, although no larger than small mammals, seem as though they exist in another plane, yet the moment is here for all to be shared. The moment EY steps to the box, though, it’s there. The realization of the moment. And on a 3-2 pitch, a ball was lifted to left-center field that would change my life. As it left the park, the understanding of every single of the 80,227 fans in attendance knew that Colorado sports had changed forever.