“You Could Stack A Lot Of Hay In A Barn This Big”
Several years ago I went to the Southeastern Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament. It was a big deal. There were thousands of people in attendance. The games were played in the Thompson-Boling Arena on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
My friend, Jim, and I enjoyed every game of every session. We managed to get some decent seats. The games were entertaining and competitive. A couple of the games went to over-time before a winner was determined. There were several outstanding players on the teams; a couple of All-Americans in fact.
Jim was a retired federal employee from Oak Ridge, Tennessee Department of Defense factories. Following his retirement, he had served a couple of terms as the mayor of a small town in the eastern part of Tennessee. He played golf as often as he possibly could. He was very good; shooting in the low 80s on a consistent basis. I always enjoyed his company.
He was born and raised in Middlesboro, Kentucky. His father was a coalminer; often working days in tunnels far below the surface. Following a term of service in the Army, Jim and his wife (Irene) had settled in Tennessee and raised their two children, Ann and Tommy. It is important to note, Jim was a dedicated fan of the University of Kentucky (UK) Wildcats. His knowledge of the history and legacy of the UK men’s basketball program often led to some interesting and entertaining conversations. He had maintained some connections to UK, enabling us to get the tickets for the tournament.
The Thompson-Boling Arena is HUGE! When it was opened in the mid-1980s it was the largest on campus sports arena in the nation. The seating capacity for a basketball game is around 25,000+/-. Naturally, the arena was almost filled to capacity during the tournament. Each of the teams brought their contingent of fans to support them. The colors displayed by the fans throughout the arena were impressive. It was interesting to watch the colors worn by the fans change as teams lost their games and their fans left, being replaced by large numbers of fans for the teams that remained. By the time of the finals the team colors of the two teams vying for the championship were the most dominant.
We were sitting in our seats, watching the two teams that would compete in the next game get in their warm-ups. During the lull in activities Jim had been looking the arena over. He had commented on the distance from the “nose bleed seats” (high atop the area) to the playing floor. He had wondered aloud about the ability of the fans in those seats to view the action on the court. Finally, just before the next game was to tip-off, Jim leaned over next to me and said, “You could stack a lot of hay in a barn this big”. His comments sent me on a trip down memory lane as I thought about all of those long, hot days of years gone by when I had stacked a lot of hay in big barns. While that type of work is hard and demanding, a clean hay-field and a full barn-loft/shed are rewarding.
I have been pondering that day when Jim made his comments. At times it is hard to see that I am accomplishing anything in my world of “paper shuffling and data entry”. It often seems as though I am not getting anywhere or getting anything done. The end of a busy day often results in nothing more than a clean desk for me to start fresh with my next morning. Sometimes, the thing that helps get me through the day is to simply visualize the day as just another load of baled hay being stacked in a big old barn.
By the way, do you know how to go about filling a big barn with bales of hay? You do it one bale at a time. How do you go about living your life? One day at a time. Our common goal (I hope!) is to do a good job cleaning “our” hay-fields and filling “our” barn-lofts/sheds with neatly stacked bales.
1/11/2016