Can't help but thinking...

Hudson S. Kent, April 2024, San Diego

 

In the local mill of the 1960s, Oxford Paper, my dad rotated shifts each week: 7am - 3pm, 3pm - 11pm, 11pm - 7am.  As you can imagine, it's a grueling work schedule. Closest I ever came to such a schedule was as a police office during college. In the summertime, I worked the 8pm - 4am schedule at Old Orchard Beach and during the quiet times of the year, I worked a wide array of shifts as a reserve police office. Because of the changing sleep patterns, I felt like a zombie, especially when I had to stay awake for classes. But that didn't compare to my dad's life. 

Along with rotating shift work, my father had five kids at home along with a boat load of other responsibilities... I don't remember any moments of joy in his days, especially after my mother fell ill with cancer when I was 11 years old, and he battled heart disease and diabetes. Those illnesses claimed his leg, any chance at happiness, and his life.      

I can't help but think that seeing this picture of little Hudson trekking off across the baseball diamond would have brought my father great joy. In fact, I can't imagine he would have allowed himself to dream of seeing his name emblazoned on the back of a baseball jersey worn by a razor-sharp little boy whose questions amaze his parents and grandpa Rob and whose energy is an unending fire.  

Play ball, Hudson! Both of you.