Not Quite Autumn

We spent a cloudless Saturday afternoon cheering on our Elmhurst College Blue Jays against the Olivet (Michigan) Comets in what proved to be an entertaining 26-20 game, Olivet.  NCAA D-III football games that go just over 2-1/2 hours are one of life’s small pleasures.  My future son-in-law, though, takes these games the way Doug Collins used to with the Bulls.  Collins never learned to deal with losing; in the playoffs, each loss left him looking exhausted to the point of collapse.  Chris will have to figure out a way to cope in the same way his future wife the White Sox fan has.

Sunday morning we went up to the Chicago Botanic Garden for their dahlia show; Michele grows them—flowers with a rich color palette that range from golf ball to 16” softball in size—and wanted to see what other people are up to.  I cared so little about the Bears’ home opener it didn’t bother me to miss the first half on what proved to be an equally beautiful Sunday.  Chicago lost on the last play of the game, naturally; the Cubs got swept by the charging Brewers; and the White Sox pounded Madison Bumgarner as Jose Abreu hit two more homers to break 30 for the third time in his four-year career.

It’s the little things in life, the sun and the effort at small schools and half-empty ballparks, that help give it meaning.