My summer consisted of volunteering at my mom’s school and working at a summer camp. Although I enjoyed playing with kids, the best part of my summer was Ken Griffey Weekend. I ended up going Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday the Mariners had a ceremony for Griffey and brought out old Seattle sports legends like Steve Largent, Spencer Haywood, and Gary Payton. There were also former teammates and friends of Griffey.
The weekend was great however because it was one that I got to spend with my dad and my best friend, Nick. Nick moved down to Arizona a couple of years ago to be closer to family and to eventually attend the University of Arizona. He only came up for 10 days so getting to spend time with him watching the Mariners was some quality time that I won’t forget.
We used to do everything together. We would watch sports on television, play basketball in the driveway, baseball at the local playfield, and trade baseball cards. Whatever we did when we were younger, we always had fun together. Then when we got older he focused mainly on baseball, and I focused on soccer. It wasn’t just that though, we seemed to have stopped being best friends, we didn’t hang out with each other as much.
That weekend that we were in each other’s company felt like the days when we were younger and would have sleepovers every weekend or shoot hoops in the driveway. I enjoyed every moment because I didn’t know if we’d ever have those moments again.
The Mariners played well that series against the A’s but that’s not the point. The point is that our mutual love for the Mariners and something so simple as going to the game made me feel like we were best friends again.
The Journey of Alex Payton 