I met Linda on October 14th, 1998 at approximately 9:15 am in Holy Trinity Church, Beaverton, OR.  I was the Music Director for the parish and she was the principal pianist for the Adult Choir and the Children’s Choir. I had been on the job for a couple of weeks and had yet to meet her.  I found out from the staff that Linda had two girls in the Holy Trinity School and that she usually played the piano for the monthly school Mass. Just the night before, I left a message on her home voice message to she was available to play.  She returned the call saying she would be there and that was that.

I was in the church setting up when I saw a beautiful woman carrying an armload of books making her way along the back row of the church. I was immediately smitten by such a gracious looking person.

We introduced ourselves. She, very formal and I, like a schoolboy almost forgetting my name. We quickly got ready for Mass; played through the Mass and said goodbye.  Over the course of the year, we played for dozens of  Masses, Weddings and Funerals together. When I started a Children’s Choir she volunteered to play the piano. We became good friends and got to know each other personally.  I learned that she was a piano teacher and she learned of my love for baseball.  (I was playing each summer for a men’s hardball team.)

Linda is not athletic.  She said that many times but I convinced her to meet me at the school baseball field for a game of catch.  Turned out she’s left-handed (thus my nickname for her; “Lefty”) and she was absolutely correct; she not athletic and didn’t know how to throw a baseball…yet. 

One afternoon I surprised her with a left-handed glove.  That helped a little and she improved with time. What was most important is we had fun just playing catch.  Soon, I reached out for some piano lessons feeling wholly inadequate during rehearsals and she was gracious enough to do so.  Our friendship deepened. 

Linda and her husband divorced a year or so later and it was challenging for her and the girls.  She had found new independence that allowed her to explore new ideas, develop her own tastes and preferences, establish her own residence and create her own vision of what she wanted in life for her and the girls. We stayed close through this time; and while I was not very stable, consistent or reliable, I did love her.  And I believe she loved me.

One fall afternoon I was driving to work and the radio was broadcasting the World Series.  I started to remember Linda and me playing catch in center field at the school and the song; Center Field began to sing to me for the next three days.  

Center Field is a story with a happy ending, a vision I watched in my head many times. It is a love song and story. It is also one of my favorite Firthian songs of them all.

PS Linda eventually proposed to me a couple of years later.  I said yes.