Blessings delayed are not blessings denied

Suffering a recent bout of insomnia, I happened to turn on the television when baseball greats Joe Garagiola and Yogi Berra were reminiscing about their lifelong friendship. I am a fair-weather baseball fan, at best, but an admirer of both men. I am especially fond of Berra, whose witticisms have the ability to change the course of my day.

During the show, Berra delivered one of his famous paradoxical remarks, and though I spent a good part of the day half-asleep, I thank my lucky stars that I was up into the wee hours to hear him deliver it.

Berra told the story of how he has always waited for the habitually late Garagiola to arrive. Berra said that, on this particular day, Garagiola arrived late as usual, but not terribly late. Anyway, when Berra spots Garagiola, taking note of his lateness he delivers this gem, "Joe, this is the earliest you've ever been late."

Besides the enjoyment derived from Berra's ironic logic, it made me think about the discussion that we locals engaged in over the entire summer. Many of us complained incessantly about being cheated out of summer.

Many agree that last summer's Fox Valley weather conditions did not exactly live up to Gershwin's Porgy and Bess lyric, "Summertime, an' the livin' is easy." Like life, weather does not come with a guarantee.

Still, all summer long, family, friends and neighbors protested the region's weather. Even people not partial to summer's stifling heat and humidity registered their complaints.

Everyday people referenced weather stats, such as rainfall totals, and kept count of the number of days that the temperature reached 90 degrees. Suddenly, weather was more than just polite conversation, as everywhere people voiced their displeasure with the unseasonably cool and wet conditions.

It is true that, from a meteorological point of view, last summer will go down as one of the coolest and rainiest on record. Now, this weather factoid would normally garner the attention of professional meteorologists, gardeners and avid weather watchers, yet remarkably a simmering resentment about the season that never quite arrived got people of all types hot under the collar.

Maybe knowing that the summer of 2009 at least went into the record books will help them to chill out and get over it.

Back to Berra and Garagiola, whose camaraderie and lifetime of memories are as vibrant as autumn's colors. In a roundabout way, Berra's story is about what really matters, that being our families and friends. As only Yogi can, it reminds us that it does not matter when our blessings come, as long as they do.

Anthony Stanford is a freelance writer living in Aurora. Contact him at bmhtales@sbcglobal