Where do I start?  There is too much symmetry for me to get.  The Chicago Bears made the playoffs in 1977 for the first time in my lifetime.  Walter Payton saw to that.

I texted back and forth with an old friend, Barry Hall, tonight.  He filled in the missing pieces for me.

A while back I swore off facebook.  Things were way too negative for me.  It was not helping me.  That is when it is over for me.  Lead. Follow. Or get out of the way.  I got facebook out of the way.

Funny though, today as I ate my lunch I grabbed my phone.  I was looking at instant messages from days gone by.  A few of them struck me as oh so pleasant memories.  One of those was from an old friend I found again thanks, ironically enough, to facebook.  I was reliving a message I had gotten from out of the blue from a guy called Terry Grider.

When I looked at facebook today for the first time in a long time, I found that Terry Grider passed away a few days ago.  It hit me hard.

Terry Grider played football for my Dad at Brownstown Central a long time ago.

In 1977, Terry Grider was my first football coach.  I was in the 4th grade.  Coach Grider’s team The Bears were 1-2.  We beat the heavily favored Cardinals is the season finale 30-26.  It was my first taste of we can do this after all.  I remember a tackle I made.  I didn’t make as many as I should have.

I look at this team and think about so many memories.

Chuck played quarterback.  I played tight end on offense.  In practice, after Coach Grider told Chuck over and over again to throw it to me, he did and I caught it.  In our next game Chuck threw it to me again and I caught it.

I have made over about this time in my life time and time again.  Why wouldn’t I?

It was the place in time when, on practice days, 9 and 10 year-old boys road a bus from the elementary school to the middle school completely unsupervised and changed into our football gear in a locker room there with no one else around and then we would walk a couple blocks in our football practice gear to the town park where our coaches were waiting for us.  AND WE THOUGHT NOTHING OF IT.  OUR PARENTS THOUGHT NOTHING OF IT.  Yes.  It was a simpler time.

In high school my Dad was my head coach.  We did the best we could with that situation and I am glad it worked out that way.  But know I was glad to have Coach Terry Grider there for me when I was in the 4th grade.  I knew him.  He knew me.  He, like my Dad, was tough on me.  I am glad of that.

I wish I could have told Terry all these things.  Life is like that though.  The best of intentions that don’t come to fruition still live on in our hearts and our souls and make us better for the next day and the next time someone may need us.

There was a great deal of unspoken feeling between Terry and me.  Our instant message exchanges are testament to that.  We had our time.  I am so thankful for that.

To Coach Grider!  Amen.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson