Greenbook: A Local Guide to Chesapeake Living -Issue 11 | Page 65

When we moved back to Maryland after my husband’s
My father died last summer. I think of him in most every-
years in the Navy, we bought a small season ticket package thing I do. I think of him when we rush from the parking lot
for our family. My husband had moved around many times to catch the first pitch. When I buy the bag of peanuts. When
during his childhood years, and he was happy to finally have we navigate the crowded crosswalk in front of Camden Yards.
a home team of his own. I wanted to instill some ballpark “Watch your step, kids!” On the other side of that crosswalk,
values in our children: how to sit. How to relax. How to focus. right in front of the stadium entrance, on a red brick wall, are
When not to talk. How to meet people around you. Why we the actual letters that once graced the facade high atop Me-
don’t “boo.” To stay until the last out.
morial Stadium, a place dedicated to the memory of heroes
Soon after we moved home, my father became ill. He was we had lost. The letters were taken down and moved with the
not elderly. The walk to the stadium from the parking lot, team to Camden Yards. Their proclamation still rings true,
even from a handicapped space, was very difficult for him. and will always remind me of my father, of baseball, of a long,
But we got him to a game. And we took him down to the hot summer: Time Will Not Dim the Glory of Their Deeds.
section where he used to sit, and he visited with Clancy, and
bought a beer from him. The Orioles won with a walk off Jennie Burke is a writer and teacher. She liv es with her
home run. In my mind, I reflected on our walks to Memorial husband and children in Annapolis.
Stadium. “Watch your step, Jen,” at the bit of concrete side-
walk lifted by the root of a stubborn Oak.