I was looking through the obits of one of the local online papers and found this terrific photo that a man’s family included with his write-up. The man passed at the age of 86, but his obituary noted that he was a high school athlete so they decided to show him in his old baseball uniform. I was very intrigued by this photo, and found myself looking at it for a lot longer than I would have if the family had included a shot of the man at 86.
This high school pic of an athlete poised and ready to play, squinting against the sun with a hint of a smile tugging at his lips shows all the self-assuredness of youth. I like looking at this photo of a teenager and thinking that he will have a long life that will span seven more decades.
The fact that the man kept this photo at all shows how much it meant to him, so I just really LOVE thinking that this is the lasting image he had of himself — and the ONLY image that I have of him.
