Enjoy the ride and all the memories that come with it

For me, driving in the car while listening to country music on a semi-warm, sunny day as winter begins to turn to spring is synonymous with baseball, the sport I played in high school.

It takes me back to a time in which I would be heading home from Terre Haute North after finishing up practice at Don Jennings Field.

Those were the days.

So, two weekends ago, when the temperature was in the mid-50s, I got into my car and drove to my parents’ house for dinner. One of the first things that popped into my mind was my time as a Patriot.

I then turned on the radio and heard a very familiar song by country artist Scotty McCreery called ‘Five Minutes’ coming through the speakers.

I’ve heard the song dozens of times but for some reason, on this Sunday evening, I listened closer than I usually would.

And in the fourth verse, it hit me when he sang, “At eighteen, turned my helmet in and walked to the fifty-yard line. Just the coach and me after we lost eighteen to nine. And I cried, “Man, next time to get in here, I’ll have to buy a ticket. Can’t you give me five more minutes?”

Memories flooded through me about my last game pitching in a North uniform – the sectional semifinal against – oddly enough – Northview in Plainfield.

I can still remember quite vividly being taken out of the game in the sixth inning and seeing what turned out to be the game-winning run cross the plate and my high school career coming to an abrupt end after we were unable to string together a rally to tie it in the seventh.

I held back the tears going through the handshake line. They still didn’t come after hearing coach Shawn Turner thank the senior class for all of our contributions or on the hour-long bus ride back home.

But once I got into my car that sat in the parking lot down the first base line of North’s field, it hit me. The tears streamed down my face as the realization came over me – I would never get to play the game I love with my best friends.

The emotions hit me again the next morning when I came downstairs to find a humongous picture of Fay Spetter, one of our assistant coaches and my all-time favorite coach, draping his arm around my shoulder as I walked off the field for the final time as a Patriot on the front page of the local sports section in the newspaper.

The drive to my parent’s house is no more than 10 or 15 minutes, but all of my end-of-high school athletic memories and moments took up the majority of that time two weeks ago.

The other five or so minutes? I thought about the Clay City and Northview senior basketball players that are getting ready to possibly play their final high school games.

That could happen on Wednesday if things don’t go the way of the Eels or the Knights or it could happen after a state championship run. But no matter when the final buzzer sounds, the finality of it being over is never easy. So, if I were to give any words of advice, it would simply be to enjoy every moment because when it’s over, it’s over.

And the next thing you know, you’ll be driving down the road reminiscing on these days while your phone is pinging left and right with notifications from your class president trying to put together your 10-year reunion.