There is nothing to let a man know he is badly out of shape like a five or six year old boy on a mission to play.
On July 2, I went to a special birthday party in Carbondale at the Castle Park. It was my little buddy Jude Grissom's birthday. He was turning the big six years old. Jude is the son of my friends Chris and Alisha Grissom.
I have known and loved Jude, and his big sister Alivia, since they were both born and I try to attend all of their special moments and events.
Jude's birthday was held at Castle Park in Carbondale and I am not sure how many children came out to celebrate with Jude and his family but it must have been at least 20 little five, six and seven year olds at the very least. I know, to me, it seemed like 60 or 70 at times.
I don't know if any of you know about Caste Park but it is a young child's dream place. The castle itself has stairs going up and down all over the place, ramps, hallways, ladders, and even secret doors and a long dark tunnel.
I now know that long dark tunnel very well.
As I was sitting in the cool shade, sipping cold water, and chatting with other adults, little Ben, Jude's cousin from Milwaukee, came running up to me. "Big John play," said Ben grabbing one of my fingers in his little hands and tugging on me.
Ben is a special boy and he does not warm up too easily to many people. He and I had finally made friends last Christmas after we sat and recited nursery rhymes and sang children's songs together for quite a while. So, when he ran up to me and tugged on my finger begging for me to come play with him, I was flattered.
I got up and followed Ben, who promptly led me into the castle. As I went up and down stairs and climbed ladders and ducked through some very small doors, I quickly became winded, but Ben led the way like a man (or a boy) on a mission.
Soon we came to a closed hallway where Ben stopped and said, "Big John open." I looked up and down the hallway and told Ben I did not see anything to open. It was just a hallway.
Ben got insistent. "Open, open, open," he told me. I was puzzled because I did not see anything to open. But Ben reached out and pushed against one side of the wall in the hallway and I'll be darned if a secret door did not open a little.
I reached out and opened the secret door and looked down a dark shaft that seemed to lead into a dark tunnel. At first I thought this must be some sort of utility shaft and started to tell Ben I didn't think we were allowed in there.
Whoosh! Ben was over the side and down the tunnel before I could get half a sentence out. Not wanting to leave a little six year old boy alone in a dark tunnel I scrambled down the ladder after him.
I found myself in a tunnel with wood floor, ceiling and sides. I had to get on my hands and knees and look into a semi dark passage where I could see Ben's quickly disappearing rump ahead of me. I scrambled after him.
I am not a small man and my knees quickly became so painful I was having problems moving through the twists and turns in this semi dark tunnel, hearing the occasional gleeful exclamation, "Come on Big John!"
It didn't take long before I was sweating heavily in the 110 degree dark tunnel and start gasping like a 500 pound man in the Boston Marathon.
Soon I was forced to lay flat on my belly and pull myself along the smooth tunnel floor by grabbing posts in front of me and using sheer arm strength to tow myself along.
When I finally saw the shaft of light ahead of me and Ben's little legs heading up a ladder I was so happy.
See Big John on Page 16A