DYERSVILLE, Iowa – We stood on the infield where “Field of Dreams” was filmed last Friday, when my son broke the silence with a question that made my eyes water.
“Hey dad, you wanna have a catch?”
The significance of his request wasn’t lost by the infatuation of being at the original site of one of the greatest sports movies of all time. It was much deeper than that. It was a son asking his father to spend a special moment at a special place.
My son and I traveled to this tiny town – believe me, it’s not an easy trip – to see the field that united a father and son, and to see my buddy perform on Saturday at the Velocity Festival of Dreams. It was a three-day concert event that featured bands like Creed, Shinedown, Carrie Underwood, Collective Soul, Skillet, Black Stone Cherry, Maggie Rose and 13 other opening bands.
Oh, I forgot the other reason we were there: Lynyrd Skynyrd. Field of Dreams and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Does it get any better than that? Especially since it was three days before my 69th birthday.
The field was spectacular. After our catch, we walked around the infield, “disappeared” in the rows of corn, sat on the same bleachers where Ray Kinsella heard Terence Mann’s famous speech “People will come, Ray,” “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball, This field, this game, it’s part of our past,” “Baseball has marked the time,” “For it’s money they have and peace they lack,” and “They will watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic water.”
Magic, indeed.
For my entire life, I’ve put off bucket list events. I always wanted to take my father to The Masters. I put it off for years, deciding to stay more focused on my work. After all, he was going to live forever.
I wanted to take my mom to New York City since the biggest place she ever visited was Cincinnati. She wasn’t going anywhere, so I put that off.
But my mother died instantly of a heart attack. My dad suffered a stroke and spent the last three years of his life in a Veterans Administration Nursing Home.
I still feel the regret of not acting on the most important things.
Given the opportunity to spend time with my son at a place we both wanted to see – and to see Skynyrd – I made it happen. It proved to be one of the best birthday weekends of my life. Not because we saw the “Field of Dreams” movie site and got to see Lynyrd Skynyrd one more time, but because we had a catch. It was a moment we both will forever carry in our souls.
With every pop of the glove, with every toss back to my son, I truly understand what the ghost was saying, “If you build it, they will come.”
Donald and I came. I felt like I was truly dipped in magic waters.
Thank you, Dyersville. Thank you, Skynyrd. And thank you Donald for the weekend … and helping me realize the importance of acting on your dreams.
