Wednesday August 14th turned out to be a beautiful day in Anderson, Indiana. On that day Countryside took a trip to the Indianapolis Colts training camp, which is held on the campus of Anderson University. Fourteen men and women had signed up to go and at 11:30 a.m. two vans were filled with residents and staff. The trip takes a short while and during the ride Joe Tilford talked about Reggie Wayne. “I’m gonna see Reggie,” Joe said. “Reggie’s my favorite. I can’t wait to see Reggie.” Joe loves Reggie Wayne.
The weather was ideal. Seventy-five degrees and low humidity. The residents had a wonderful vantage point. Sitting right at field level they could see everything up close. They saw the team stretching and exercising. They saw the giant men running through tires and hitting tackling dummies. They watched the scrimmage. All the time Joe’s eyes never strayed from Reggie Wayne.
After a couple of hours the men hit the showers and the residents headed back to the vans. The talk was about the Colts and how wonderful the experience was. Joe had seen Reggie glide across the middle and catch a pass from Andrew Luck. You couldn’t have asked for a better day. The residents were loaded and everyone was buckled up. Activities Director Barb Waggoner saw a gentleman standing with his back to the van talking to his mom. She was concerned the van would hit the vehicles and wanted to make sure there was room. “Excuse me,” she said, “I don’t mean to bother you,” and Reggie Wayne turned around and smiled.
Reggie was quite gracious when she asked for his autograph. He even waved to the residents in the van. When Barb got into the van she said, “Joe, I have something for you.” Joe’s eyes filled with tears as he clutched his Reggie Wayne autograph. You see it did turn out to be a beautiful day.
