Summertime

Summer is here (I know that technically there are still 3 weeks of spring) and now life slows down and we can relax. Just kidding life is crazier than ever. Baseball is still going on and we have already started football practice!

Monday night we had a "volunteer" night to work on the field at the Big Guy's new school. I met a few of the dads and we tried to help whip the field in to shape. We worked on a fence and moved some dirt around to fill in some holes. The boys who intend to be on the team were there too and I had a good time watching some of them try to break cement with a sledge hammer. It was actually pretty fun for the most part although it was about 93 degrees. After we finished at school we had almost an hour to go home, eat and get to the ball field. Big Guy got a hit and we won, the game ended at 10. Now there were just a few simple tasks left like getting two boys to bathe and get to bed; getting clothes and lunches ready for the next morning (it was zoo camp week); getting laundry done for me and packing clothes for the boys as they spent the next 2 nights with their father.

Tuesday I went to a PTA meeting on my lunch...well the whole week kept going like that, just one thing right after another. I suppose life might have been like that when I was young but it seems like it was easier. I guess if we can make it to Fall, I can start catching up on my Summer reading. Maybe the books will be in paperback by then. :)

Baseball

Life seems to be back in full swing. The laundry is starting to pile up, the lawn mower needs to be fixed and the gutters need to be cleaned. Fortunately (or not) baseball is still swallowing a large amount of my 'free time'. Both boys are playing, so we seem to have games 4-5 nights a week. I missed almost all of baseball season last year, as it wrapped up just after I started to see B. She asked me what I thought about the boys playing and I said that it was fine with me, as long as they wanted to, I don't believe in forcing participation in activities. I did not realize how much time would be involved.

When I was about 5 we started playing T-Ball. Our mothers would take us to our games which took place on weekday mornings in the summer. I suppose we played for an hour or two and then went home. We did not have uniforms that I remember. When I was about 7 we started playing baseball. American Legion ran the program where I grew up, although I think that now there are other leagues there too. One night, late enough in the spring for Fred Young fieldhouse to be stifling hot, we would go to Illinois Wesleyan for registration. My Dad and I would stand there while a very long single line ran through 2 or three stations. Finally we would get to the front where I would receive a t-shirt and hat as well as the fundraiser materials. Everyone in an age group wore the same colors, green for the youngest, then red and finally blue. When I was maybe 10 or 11 people started wearing baseball pants and some times leggings. We would generally walk to our games or maybe carpool. I really don't recall parents attending very often, maybe once in a while a bunch of mothers would attend but I think that it was more an opportunity for them to socialize than anything else. Our umpires were high school or college students and they helped set the lineups. No coaches, just kids playing ball. I think it might be better that way.

I know that we are often nostalgic but the other night, between the 2 games we were involved in, I bet I saw 5 kids in tears. Whether or not the parents pressure the children, I think that the presence of the parents provides pressure. We all knew who the best players on our team were, we went to school with them and they were the best on the playground but our parents never had to watch us as we were outclassed. I expected that Scott would strike me out, and that Steve, Dan, Greg and Joel would be better than I was, but I didn't have to worry about looking bad in front of my mom and dad. It was just fun and gave us something to do while school was out.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe its better now but there were certainly less tears when I played ( I did cry once though, at a game my parents were watching)

Back Home

We had a pretty eventful trip home. The Older Boy was causing drama the whole way. He made a poor choice Thursday and followed it up by trying to blame everyone but himself. I hope he'll learn soon. While that was going on we managed to get stuck on two-lane roads behind a house and a helicopter (it was on a hauler). We also managed to go through a town where the main drag was down to a single lane and hit Birmingham at rush hour. All thing considered, it was a very abrupt return to the real world.

We had baseball and errands today. We got rained out of our second game, so we get movies now.

Everyone else has a blog right?

I figured that it was past time for me to start a blog, I think that every one I know has a blog. I don't know if anyone will be interested in my ramblings but, if nothing else, I'll have a journal.

I intend to focus the blog on my continuing development as a new stepfather and husband. I very willingly accepted both roles this year and certainly have no regrets but since I jumped in with both feet, there are often situations that leave me sort of speechless in a "I never thought of it like that" kind of way.

I took the title of my blog from one of those situations. I was puting my younger boy to bed one night in early April. He likes to listen to music while he goes to sleep and he asked me to put on a CD. When he asked for Shrek Christmas, I asked why he was still listening to Christmas music when it was almost Easter. He looked at me like I was the 5 year-old and said "Well, I don't have any Easter music." Finding no holes in his logic, all could say was "Ok, good night." I love those moments.