There he goes

Look at him now

Moving across the floor

Dribbling that ball

Passing it. Wow!

He just scored two more.

He’s my basketball man

Moving as fast as he can

Those rippling muscles

That flash of tan.

There goes my basketball man.

I wrote the above poem during a time when our high school basketball team was in tournaments. I loved that squeak of basketball shoes on the gym floor, the fast pace (and it didn’t hurt that some of the players were good-looking).

I didn’t show anyone the poem then. I hadn’t remembered it much until this week.

I didn’t date in high school. One or two dates the summer before my senior with someone who didn’t go to the same school I did, but I usually don’t count that. (Mostly because I feel bad for the way I ended it).

Leaving high school insecurities behind, I went away to a Christian college. There, I was asked out by a few different guys. I went out with whoever asked me, finding dating in the protective climate fun.

A college junior who was on the basketball team asked me out. I accepted. He was 6’6″ tall. I remember telling him guys back home didn’t grow that tall. He found something he liked in the country girl I was, and I became his girlfriend. The relationship never got off the ground. He ended it a few weeks later. I was hurt by the way he ended it, but I eventually bounced back.

I made some poor judgment calls when it came to dating, and I also went out with some nice young men.

But I didn’t find one that stuck.

Until I met my husband when I was 24. He was a year older. We married 10 months after we started dating.

He loved sports of all kinds.

Especially basketball. He enjoyed watching professional basketball on TV (along with every other sport).

He also played in a local league.

And with his brother and various friends, he entered 3-on-3 tournaments, some local and some with the Gus Macker games.

With him playing, I found that I enjoyed watching basketball again.

He really fit that poem I’d written in high school.

He moved fast across the court

he had skills with dribbling and shooting

and…

…well, he was tanned.

…and muscled.

A very good-looking man.

As we grew older, he quit playing basketball and started golfing, more of an “old man’s” sport.

But he never lost his love of the game.

And I never lost my love for him.

It’s been a while since I’ve watched a game in person, and I’m not much of a TV sports fan. But I have great memories of watching him.

My basketball man.

I share this because today is his birthday. He would have been 62 this year. He’s forever young in my memory.