and Reminiscing! Team Sports

While I was in the Navy I still ran when I could even when we were at sea I would run on the flight deck between flight operations. Because we spent so much time at sea I wanted to find another sport to participate in to stay active and pass the time. They had a basketball league aboard ship that some of my friends in the squadron played in but I had zero talent where basketball was and is concerned. I did play in a donkey basketball game with the Letterman's Club my senior year in high school. Since basketball wasn't an option I went to the first sign up and organization meeting for the boxing team. I walked up, looked around at the muscle bound boxers in my weight class and decided that there was no way I was going to sign up to be hit by them on purpose so that was out. While we were at LeMoore NAS between cruises I did play on the squadron softball team and had a lot of fun with that. The only negative there was that I pulled a quad muscle right before we went to sea and I had to get around aboard ship on crutches. Not fun.

After I married and left the Navy I was still running and doing some races but I also got more involved in team sports. While working for the Los Angeles County Parks I played and coached coed volleyball with my co-workers and I played on a coed softball team with friends and family. I also played for my company softball team when I worked for Spectrol Electronics in City of Industry. I actually worked at Spectrol and Rimgrove Park at the same time.

Participating on the Spectrol team brought an unwanted experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone. I usually made dinner on Friday nights because Jackie worked late at the bank. I was making enchiladas and my hands were covered in red sauce when the doorbell rang, I yelled for the person to come in and told them just a minute while I washed my hands. It turned out to be a private investigator that was there to serve me papers informing me that I was being sued for $750,000 for allegedly breaking a woman's jaw at the softball game that week.

Keeping it short. I didn't. The allegations were that I was warming up a pitcher and when I threw the ball back to him it bounced and hit her in the face breaking her jaw. Let's be clear. It didn't happen. In the first place as I explained to the detective, "I could fire a ball directly at her face and probably not break her jaw much less throw it, have it bounce on grass and then hit her and do any damage. Fortunately my homeowner's insurance lawyers and corporation lawyers handled it and when the truth came out, she had been at the park visiting a boyfriend and when she returned home her husband wasn't pleased, punched her and broke her jaw. I was identified because, "You have dark hair and a mustache". For the record, the majority of the team had dark hair and mustaches.

My wife, Jackie worked at Wells Fargo Bank at the time we lived in Valinda and we socialized with some of her co-workers, one couple in particular, and the husband played rugby. It was an experience that I'm glad I had but didn't play more than one season after a serious of injuries and a reminder now and then from Jackie of the fact that I did not have disability insurance.

Coyote Rugby Club in Action

 When we moved to New Mexico in 1975 I continued running and actually started running more when I became a coach. I still had the opportunity to play softball in a church league though and had fun doing it until there just wasn't time enough to do so. I taught, coached, worked part time in a hardware store, took classes and tried to be a husband and father to my two sons and support their sports. Needless to say, something had to give. It was fun when I played though. Here are some quotes from the Lovington Daily Leader articles when I was playing.

"Jimmy Capps and Dana Anstey lined out four singles each".

"Terry Padilla, Dana Anstey and Grayland Wright all looped four singles".

Terry Padilla and Dana Anstey lined out two singles each".

Anybody sense a theme? I obviously wasn't a power hitter.

"Jackson Avenue managed just five hits off First Christian pitcher Dana Anstey in the opener, but the Baptists were able to capitalize in key situations to score an easy victory. Wayne Williams went all the way for Jackson and scattered seven base raps in taking the mound win. Anstey took the defeat".  This was a double header and we won the second game 5-4 by scoring 5 runs in the last inning. "First Christian came up with five runs to sneak past First Baptist as Anstey drove in Wright with the winning run to end the game".

"The winners scored once in the first inning when Dana Anstey doubled in Terry Padilla...".

"Dana Anstey went all the way for First Christian in socking up the mound victory. Anstey also banged out a triple and two singles to pace First Christian's hitting attack".

Those quotes came from articles over two seasons one was 1980 and I'm not sure if the other was '79 or '81. Adult sports can be a lot of fun.

Wonderlust! Do you mean Wanderlust? "No"!

"WONDERLUST" What is it? Is it real? I first saw the word in the novel, Main Street by Sinclair Lewis and as it turns out it is wonderlust that led me to read the Lewis novel. A novel published in October 1920.  I read a reference to the novel when I was revisiting a book that I was rereading over 40 years after I first read it. That book was, Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. The reason I was rereading that book was because I had just finished a book by Gregory Ziegler, Travels With Max: In Search of Steinbeck's America Fifty Years Later. 

Ziegler's book caused me to read Steinbeck's from a completely different perspective. The reason? Ziegler showed that much of what Steinbeck wrote as nonfiction was actually fiction and that a good deal of the story was fabricated or at least embellished with half-truths.

Anyway, that is the road that led to my reading Main Street and that is where I first saw the word "Wonderlust" used. A word by the way that my computer keeps telling me is misspelled. The main character was trying to explain her penchant for starting so many sentences with, "I just wonder". She said, "I know. The Wonderlust--probably it's a worse affliction than the Wanderlust. I just wonder----".

As far as I'm concerned I "suffer" from both afflictions and while neither will ever be "cured" in my lifetime I am certainly enjoying doing whatever I can to ease both "afflictions" by satisfying them whenever possible. From a time and financial standpoint it is much easier to strive to satisfy the Wonderlust. Just give me a book and that will often lead me to another book or books and so on and so on. The Wonderlust is an affliction I have "suffered" from ever since I learned to read and I hope that I am never cured. As a matter of fact, it is an affliction that I will do everything in my power to make sure that my children and their children suffer from as well.

A symptom of my Wonderlust is a strong pull to used bookstores whenever I travel. Google has made it easy to find used book stores wherever I go. I seldom leave one without at least one book and usually more but even if I don't buy any I find the time spent looking through the shelves to be relaxing. Additionally I often find the next detour on my journey of reading.

Sharing Wonderlust

Sharing his Wonderlust

Sharing her Wonderlust

Some of the used bookstores that I've found either on Google or while running in new areas. Even if I didn't purchase anything I left each inspired to continue satisfying my Wonderlust.

Aurora, Colorado

At the bookstore in Springfield, Oregon I was talking with the lady who owned it and I jokingly said, "So many books, so little time. I worry that I won't live long enough to read everything that I want to". Her response was great. She said, "You need to change your thinking to, I'm going to live long enough to read all the books I want to read". While we have no control over how long we live and it is certainly not dependant on our desires for time to read or anything else, I do like her plan better.

No Excuses!

Southern California Friends - Then and Now

Without a doubt a highlight of my time spent in the Laguna Beach area was reconnecting with old friends, some I had not seen in over 45 years. Others I have seen once or twice during that time and one I had completely lost contact with but I was able to track him down. It is often easy to decide to not contact people from the past because obviously everyone has changed, nothing is the same and everyone has gone their own way since the 60's when we first became friends. For some reason though I just felt that I needed to see whomever I could while I was there and it turned out that I saw even more people than I had hoped to. If I had any advice to give old friends and whether or not you should reach out to reconnect it would be this: Go into the potential reunion with no expectations. Go into it knowing that you may reach out and your interest may not be returned. Realize that the initial reunion may be the only reunion with no followup and be ok with that. Remember, nothing ventured, nothing gained is an old saying and it certainly holds true when it comes to seeking out and contacting old friends. You never know what may come of it but hopefully your reunions will be as positive as mine in Southern California turned out to be. As a matter of fact, I am motivated to continue looking for some of those friends from the 60's and 70's.

Each reunion was unique and yet many of the shared memories were the same because of our close connections "back in the day". In the order in which they happened here are the people that I got to see.

Speaking of memories here is an interesting quote that I saw on Twitter. I went on line hoping to see who it was that said it but since I couldn't find a source I will identify it as author - anonymous for the time being. "I think the only reason why people hold onto memories so tight is because memories are the only things that don't change when everything else does". 

Bill Sumner - Bill and I haven't seen each other since the late 60's or early 70's and I wasn't sure how I would find him this time. I knew that he had stayed in southern California because he has had a very successful career as a high school and club track coach. I found his track club online and saw that they had a workout schedule so I went to the park where they were meeting on a Thursday. I got there over an hour early so that I could get my own workout in on the trails and the trip would be productive if he wasn't at the practice. 

As I was finishing my run I passed a lot of people of all ages running the opposite direction and I kept looking to see if I might see Bill. I got back to the park and asked a woman with a club shirt on if Coach Sumner was there and she said that he was out running. It turned out that she was his wife so we visited for a while until she saw him coming and she took me out to the trail and said, "Coach, this guy wants to join your club". He glanced at me and started to tell me what to do, stopped and said, "You're Dana". It was funny. 

I ran a small part of the workout with his club and then waited until they were done so we got a chance to visit for a while and catch up a little. He was leaving the next day with his high school team to the mountains for a running camp so I was really lucky to reconnect. We have exchanged a few texts since then.

Bill and I ran against each other in high school, were college teammates at MSAC and were both part of the group from Ted's House. We shared a lot of experiences.

Mike "Paisano" Preziose. After seeing Bill I was even more motivated to see some others from the "group". I was supposed to see Mike when I was last in southern California for the MSAC Relays but he was out of town most of the time I was there so we agreed to try to get together this time. Since I knew he worked and was often out of town I wasn't sure whether we would connect or not. 

The day after seeing Bill I was driving to the beach for a workout and called Mike to say hello and see what his schedule was. It turns out that he had stayed home for work and wanted me to come to his home to see it and then go to lunch. It was funny when I showed up he was wearing a NY Yankees hat, Mike was born and spent parts of his childhood in NY. I immediately put my Red Sox hat on to walk into the house. We had a great visit and then a good lunch in downtown Whittier. 

When we were kids, Whittier is where we used to drive over the hill on weekends to cruise Whittier Boulevard and go to Bob's Big Boy but I had never been to downtown Whittier. 

Mike and I had see one another when I was in San Diego in 2001 for a National Conference and he drove down and spent some time with Jackie and I. It was hard to believe that it had been over 13 years again. Before that it was also the late 60's or early 70's since we had been together. Mike was also part of the "House Crowd".

Jenny Chase Sissung - When I reconnected with Fred Mershon in Florida they put Jenny and I back in touch and we have texted back and forth every week or so since. When I told Jenny that I was coming to southern California we agreed to meet for lunch. She suggested a place at the Dana Point Harbor even though it gave her a further distance to drive. I got there early so I drove down to San Clemente to visit a used book store that I found online. It was a really nice store and of course I walked out with a bag full of books that I probably didn't need. But will read!

When I finished at the bookstore I returned to Dana Point to look around the Harbor area and wait to meet Jenny for lunch. We had a really good time catching up and I'm sure we'll continue to stay in touch, we have since I returned home.

Jenny and I went to high school together, she was two years behind me. She and I ran on a coed relay team in the all school track meet in 1966 that set the school record. Later Jenny started dating another friend from the house, Rob Sissung and so she became part of the group. Rob is one of the five of us that joined the Navy together in 1968 and sadly he passed away a few years ago. He and Jenny were married while we were in the Navy and they had married housing on base when Rob, Ted and I were stationed in Memphis. The last time I saw either of them was in Memphis, the graciously opened their home and shared their car with us while we were at Memphis before Ted and I were sent to different duty assignments.

Rex Hall - When I got to Laguna Hills I sent Rex a text to see if he knew how to get hold of Bill. I didn't hear back until a couple of days after I tracked Bill down but when I did Rex suggested we meet for a walking workout and coffee also at the Dana Point Harbor, the morning after I had lunch with Jenny. What I thought would be a quick walk and a quick cup of coffee turned into a two hour plus reunion. It was great visiting and catching up, hearing about more of my high school and college teammates that Rex has seen from time to time. 

Rex is a retired fire fighter but he is also a retired very successful high school track and cross country coach. As a matter of fact, that's how I got his cell number. When I was at the Mt. SAC Relays his team was there but it turned out that he had retired the year before. I was still able to get his number. 

The last time I had seen Rex was in the late 90's in Colorado Springs or maybe the early 00's. He was in Colorado Springs running in the World Police and Fire Track Championships and I was a timer at the meet. It was an unexpected reunion then but we managed to get together for dinner. Rex and I were high school teammates for three years, he was a year behind me.

After returning home I dug through my pictures and created the following "Then & Now" pictures. 

We've obviously all changed in many ways but one thing that can never change are the memories that we all share. I hope to have future posts with future reunions. In my last blog, I wrote about reunions with Clarence Green and Fred Mershon and I hope to be writing more about them sooner than later. 

Running & Exploring - Beaches & Trails

I have mentioned in previous blogs that I have written about how much I learn about new places by getting out and walking or running to explore. When I was in the Laguna Beach area house sitting for my nephew I made a commitment to see as much as possible while not being a "tourist". I wanted to find areas to run that I would run if I was a local. Another commitment that I made was to not pay for parking if at all possible the entire time that I was there. I was successful on both counts. The no paying for parking had nothing to do with financial reasons, it was a form of protest against the parking meters everywhere in the Laguna Beach, Laguna Canyon area.

This was just part of a huge wilderness trail system in the Laguna Hills area and this particular trailhead was a very short walk from my nephew's house.

I have found that I could always learn a lot to see and do when I visit new areas by picking up maps and brochures as well as checking the "things to do" sections of local newspapers.

I tried to run on different beaches just for different experiences. One thing I found on all of the beaches in the Laguna Beach area is that the tide was in whenever I went to run and for that reason most of my runs while over an hour most times didn't cover a long distance because I spent the majority of the runs in deep and soft sand. It was still a nice change and I have always found running near any body of water to be a great experience. The sights, the sounds, even the smells are just different and enjoyable near water.

I really enjoyed visiting Dana Point, a city that doesn't go overboard with paying for parking. Im sure that sounds trivial or nitpicking to some but I really do find it offensive how much governments make from people who simply want to enjoy some time visiting new places. I would actually wind up going back to Dana Point two additional times, once for lunch with a friend from my high school and Navy days and the next day for coffee and a walking workout with a high school teammate. They were just two of the old friends that I was fortunate enough to connect with during this incredible 12 days. I will do another post just dealing with the many reunions.

Another thing that I find helpful when traveling and visiting new places is getting as many different types of local maps that can be found. There are often many things that you can find on a map that you might otherwise not know about.

As the pictures show, I got to run in a lot of beautiful places on this "working" vacation. Needless to say, my nephew has a housesitter any time that he needs one in the future.

66th Birthday - Time to Begin a New Blog

I decided to try to do a blog a year beginning on my birthday. The previous blogs have been printed and shared and that is the goal that I have for this one as well. In my blogs I want to share my present experiences as well as memories from the past that my children can share with their children. I want them to be able to know my past the way that I wish I knew my parent's past. Now that they are gone, I am reminded almost daily of questions I wish that I had asked. There are so many unanswered questions. Hopefully some of those questions will be answered by me through my blogs.

Each year since my 60th birthday I have tried to do something active to celebrate and this year was no exception. I was housesitting for my nephew, Tim in Laguna Hills and I ran for 66 minutes on the beach to commemorate my 66th birthday.

Not a bad way to celebrate my birthday. I continued the celebration with a meal at In-N-Out Burger that probably undid all of the good done by my run. But it sure was good. A typical Southern California meal from my past. I share a birth year with In-N-Out so it seemed only right.

While I was in Southern California I did a lot, saw a lot and reconnected with a lot of people. I will do additional posts about the trip because it was so eventful.

GIA - My Laguna Hills housemate and birthday companion!

Like I do whenever I travel, I found a race to run while I was in Orange County and it was actually at the Orange County Fairgrounds. It was a fun event despite the humid conditions.

First race as a 66 year old! I finished 2nd in my age group in a total field of 2458. Fun day!