A Pleasant Sunday Afternoon

A Pleasant Sunday Afternoon

My sister-in-law, Kathryn, and I are very good friends but we rarely have the time we’d like to just sit and visit. However, we fondly remember a pleasant Sunday afternoon in the early 1970’s that was idyllic. (The time frame is important to the story.)

Our family was visiting her family in Berthoud CO. We had eaten Sunday dinner and the dishes were in the dishwasher. Kathryn and I settled in the living room with our knitting and the guys and kids were going to play football in the church yard next door. Kathryn’s husband, Morris, checked the baseball playoff game on TV. His favorite team, the Cincinnati Reds, was playing and he would have liked to watch the game but his kids were there so a game of touch football took priority. My husband and children joined them.

Kathryn and I visited uninterrupted for a few minutes then her stepson came in to get a drink of water. He looked at the TV and said, “Why are you watching baseball? The Broncos are on.” And, he changed channels and checked the progress of the game before returning to the game outside.

A few minutes later Morris came in to check the baseball game. “Why are you watching football?” He changed the channel checked the progress of the game then returned to the game in the yard with Norm and the kids.

Then John came in again. “Why did you change channels?” And he changed back to the football game, checked the progress and returned to the family game in the church yard.

This scenario repeated itself for about 2 hours. The baseball game concluded and the football game was in the last quarter when the dads came in and collapsed on the couch and the kids needed a snack.

Kathryn and I had enjoyed an afternoon of conversation, made considerable progress on our knitting projects, and kept track of both the baseball and the football games and never once got up to change channels!