Springtime, when a young man's fancy turns from Ice Hockey to Baseball, or however that old saying goes. Springtime lasts all winter in Arizona and then when the rest of the country begins to thaw, we start summer.
My favorite song is Groovin, made famous by the Rascals. Recently it was remade as an instrumental by Kirk Whalum, Norman Brown and Rick Braun. It was number one during this time of year in 1967. or 66, whatever. It has always been a happy song.
My birthday is in April. I share the month with members of my family. But I also shared it with my friend Rick Partain. His birthday is April 3 and 18 days later, it is my birthday. I am sure through the years, we shared celebrations with our church youth group. But it was never lost that he was just a little older than me. Even though I was more mature, more learned, more, yeah right.
One year my dad bought me a shirt at JC Penneys. It was a red paisley shirt. I think I have a picture of me wearing the shirt. I was proud of that shirt. One Sunday, I wore the shirt to church. I was ready to show off my new shirt. I walked into the Sunday School room. By the way, if you dont know what Sunday School is, ask your parents or your Baptist friends. As I walked in, I looked over at Rick, I usually did look to see where he was so I could sit close by. You should have seen what he was wearing. It seems Rick had somehow acquired the same shirt.
The teasing was taken in fun as it was given. Laughter throughout our day at church and that is what church is all about. laughter, eh?
Although we played up the embarrassment factor all day, I was secretly happy that Rick had chosen the same shirt I had. It validated the choice my dad had made for me. I wore the shirt proudly for as long as I had it. I had a shirt just like Rick Partain. It was always important to me to do as much as I could like Rick.
Strangely enough, Rick never wore the shirt to church again.
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