Power Pellets

I was suddenly transported through time last week. One bite into a fresh from the vine grape and I was gone.

I was 8 years old in the backyard of the house I grew up in. Its early fall and you can smell that crisp air every time you breathe deeply, almost tasting it. The sun is high in the sky with white fluffy clouds. It's a perfect early fall day. The grass is still green and the trees are starting to turn colors. The apples on the tree are just starting to ripen, making promises of yummy pies to come. I can still hear the sounds of lawn mowers trimming grass one last time until spring, kids playing in their yards... My mom would be in the house, maybe cooking dinner or tidying up the house, or just watching us. She would spend several minutes at a time looking out of our large window that overlooked the yard. And what did she watch? The most talented football players she had ever seen! Or we thought we were, anyway...

You see, my dad and I were one team and my brothers the other. I learned to throw a football that way. Pickup football games with my family. Some of my fondest memories... Dad hiking me the ball and us trying to run it past my 12 and 14 year old brothers. The sounds of the football sailing through the air and into someones hands (or the ground!) There was no talking, no conversation, just the sounds of laughter during the very serious game going on between the four of us. And every now and then we'd fall and sometimes we'd start to tire and when we did, my dad would say, "You need a power pellet to give you some energy! It will make you feel great!" And that's when we would turn from our game and run to the grape vine...

Those power pellets always did the trick...