Last week, for Father’s Day we got to go to Arlington and be with my Dad. We went to lunch at an old favorite place and then we went to a movie. There was not much on we were interested in until I found out that “Field of Dreams” was playing on the big screen celebrating its 30th year of release. We got in our seats and only one other person was in the theater. Eventually, 6 people joined us.
The movie began and the lights did not dim. Logan got up and talked to the workers. They came in and pushed a button. It was right there by the door. Never again will we have to ask. We know how to turn the lights out. We had just missed it.
The movie proceeded just like it has every time I have seen it, but it was much better in the theater. It got to sit next to my Dad and we laughed and smiled and choked up at all the right moments. It was really fun.
I got interested in the location. I remember that the farm chosen as the movie location did not turn it back into a corn field, but left it as a baseball field. I searched for the information, I got caught in a rabbit hole of the division between the two families, ownership tug-o-war and the eventual buy-out. I clicked on the map. and then saw it.
Last year, on vacation, we had spent the night at Fort Dodge, Iowa. The next day, we drove to Charles Mound and hiked to the highpoint of Illinois. It was a long drive across Iowa. Then I realized that I had been just 2.7 miles from the field. Admission is free, so I could have stopped by for just a few minutes and enjoyed the place, but I missed it. I just did not know that it was only over the crest of a field. Have you ever missed something by being just being unaware?
On the way back from our D6 Mission Trip in South Dakota we were trying to map out a route. I discovered that Fort Hays is right on the path and it is very near the the Nicodemus National Historic Site. We are making the effort to not just drive by in such a hurry that we miss the point of living.
Lift your head up and look around. There may be a place or a person near that needs your attention.