Transitions and passages

August has always been a big month for us.

Wife's birthday is on the 7th and our wedding anniversary is on the 11th. For about 23 years, somebody has been getting ready to go back to school at this time of year. For the past ten years that's included -- and is now exclusively -- college.

So celebrating said birthday and anniversary has always  been in the midst of getting school supplies and/or clothes together, packing up, moving and transitioning from a more relaxed "summerish" mindset to more of a routine.

This August has been no exception.

Younger Son came home on Wife's birthday, fresh from his summer newspaper job with about a week to spend with us before heading back for his senior year. Moving him was a non-event because he lived in the fraternity house all summer and commuted to his job in a nearby town. He's moving from one room to another but he's able to accomplish all of that without parental assistance.

He and Wife did a little bit of shopping for him while he was home, but overall he's become pretty low-maintenance as far his physical requirements and needs.

While he was home, he was kind enough to help get his sister moved out. She is now a resident of Huntsville, AL, about 100 miles south of us, where she and DSO are teaching in the same school system.

We spent last weekend getting her moved. She's in a great apartment in a great little community, living with a young lady she knew at Auburn.

And I hate to say this out loud but it appears that Wife and I are . . . . empty nesters!  That's right, she and I are the sole occupants of this house. We married on August 11, 1984 and Older Son was born January 24, 1986. Do the math and you can figure how long since it's been just the two of us.

It could last less than a year as Younger Son's plans after next May's graduation are as yet unknown. And of course he's always welcome. If we've learned anything, we've learned to be flexible.

And we did manage to celebrate the birthday and anniversary, the anniversary being one of those landmark ones -- our 30th.

On August 1st I told Wife I would be giving her a gift per day until the 11th to commemorate both her birthday and this very significant anniversary. She loved that. They were not all big, by any stretch, but all were fun and for most I wrote her a little note explaining the significance of the particular gift.

I'm not going to go through each one but I'll tell you that the first one was a bottle of perfume, the one she wore when we first started dating and during the early days of our marriage. Whenever I catch that scent, be it ever so slightly, I think of her because that's the smell I remember from when we first met. And I still love that fragrance.

I'm not exactly the best gift-giver in the world (and I'm a terrible gift receiver), so it came as no surprise when she asked where I got this idea (11 gifts in 11 days) -- had I known somebody else who did it or did I do some research for original gift-giving ideas?

Nope, I told her. Thought of it all by myself. There might be hope for me after all.

One friend of hers, after she shared what I had done, pointedly asked if maybe I were having an affair.

I got a good laugh out of that one. I've been too tired for years to even think about any such dalliance.

And of course much more than that, I wouldn't ever even think of it. If she's put up with me for 30 years, I don't think anybody's going anywhere.

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Back a few weeks ago Older Son drove here with one of his prized possessions -- his pickup truck, the one he and I went and bought for him after his first year in college. Oh how he loves that truck.

But it is not exactly practical for his current station in life. It drinks gas quite liberally and he drives around Dallas a bit with his job.

So last fall he told me was in the market for a car, but would not be parting with his truck. He asked if he could entrust it to me. He might want it back someday, in fact he probably would.

He came to the right place. I'm loving that truck.

And he might have a hard time getting it back.

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Transitions and passages. So much of life is about these things.

As Wife often says, we're in the revolving door years where we can go from a house full of folks to an empty house in a matter of hours.

This afternoon Daughter and DSO will be here to go to an outdoor concert with us tonight. They'll stay the night.

 Later a friend from Arkansas and her two daughters will stop in to spend the night on their way to North Carolina for one of the daughters to go to school.

We'll all have a big breakfast together in the morning.

By Monday morning it will be quiet and it will just be the two of us again.

Did I mention we're flexible?

Three ballparks, three days, great times

            It was a Fourth of July weekend to remember this year as Older Son, Younger Son, DSO and I hit three Major League ballparks in three days, a trip that had been in the works for several months.

            For years we have tried to go to at least one new ballpark annually (and see a game there) on our way to visiting each one.  Not long after a game at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. last summer, Older Son was plotting on a map how we might double our pleasure in 2014.

             Yes, two would be great. Three? Even better.

              After the first of the year we studied game schedules a bit and it soon came together. Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh would be in the middle of home stands over July 4^th.  And with the holiday being on a Friday, well, it was meant to be.

            We weren’t 100 percent opposed to inviting female family members but they were advised that it would be strictly a baseball trip, and a quick one at that. There would be no time for any significant sightseeing or visiting renowned dining spots. It would be “eat when you’re hungry” and no coddling of anyone.

            The girls gave their blessing but opted out. 

            Three of us flew from here to Detroit on Thursday the 3^rd where we met Older Son who flew in from Dallas. We picked up a rental car at the airport and drove to our downtown hotel near the ballpark.

            Although it had been pouring rain when we landed, the skies soon cleared, giving way to incredibly beautiful weather that would stay with us throughout the weekend. The temperature didn’t even get above 80 degrees until our last day. 

            On the recommendation of local friends with Michigan ties, we visited the rooftop of “Hockeytown,” which overlooks Comerica Park, where we would see our first game. Although Hockeytown’s obvious main focus is hockey (and there’s a framed Nashville Predators jersey prominently displayed), it’s a great local sports bar paying homage to all Detroit sports teams.

            We made our way across the street to the stadium where we saw the Detroit Tigers play the Tampa Bay Rays. It was a hitting fest and the Tigers had three homeruns in the first inning. They went on to win handily.

            On Friday, the July 4^th holiday, it was on to Cleveland, about a two-and-a half-hour southeast jaunt. It was another gorgeous day and before leaving Detroit we drove near the Canadian border and by the original home of Motown Records.  (I had never said there would be no sightseeing – just nothing extensive).

We enjoyed an outdoor lunch in Cleveland’s downtown warehouse district and a stroll along the pier on Lake Erie before checking in our hotel and going to watch the Cleveland Indians play the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field. The Royals’ bats were flying and they took down the home team.

            A spectacular post-game fireworks show above the stadium was a fitting finale to Independence Day, or so I thought. My young travel companions were soon pushing – or dragging -- me way outside my comfort zone, and keeping me up far past my bedtime.  Before I knew it we were sharing a midnight pizza at a nearby “open late” spot.

Younger Son had done some research and learned that the house featured in the movie “A Christmas Story” is in an old Cleveland neighborhood. We thought it was worth a drive-by Saturday morning before going to Pittsburgh. The neighborhood has capitalized on the movie’s popularity with not only the house, but a museum and gift shop across the street, taking up almost an entire block.

We arrived in downtown Pittsburgh in the early afternoon and enjoyed lunch at a local deli and a walk along the riverfront before walking across the Roberto Clemente Bridge (closed to vehicular traffic on game days) to PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, for a late-afternoon start time. There was a festive atmosphere around the stadium, similar to football tailgating, as baseball fans enjoyed refreshments, live music and games of corn-hole toss.

The Pirates were playing their intrastate rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies had plenty of fans there talking trash right back to the hometown Pittsburgh fans dishing it out to them.

We saw another great game, a win for the home team with lots of hits, in a beautiful stadium that frames the city’s skyline beyond the outfield.

We spent the night at an airport hotel and we three Nashville travelers were back home early Sunday morning.

It was the perfect trip for a baseball fan – three ballparks in three days, with three great guys kind enough to take an old guy with them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Covering all our bases

I'm pretty excited about a trip I am about to take, one that's been in the works for a few months.

Tomorrow morning Younger Son, DSO and I will fly to Detroit, where we'll meet Older Son who is flying in from Dallas.

We will pick up a car there and begin our barnstorming baseball trip, visiting three Major League parks in three days. It will be Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, in that order, and it should be more fun than ought to be legal.

This was the brainchild of Older Son, who leads his brother and me in our quest to visit all MLB parks. After this, he'll have seven to go. I'll be exactly two-thirds there, having visited 20 of the 30, and Younger Son is at about 17, I believe.

DSO was late to the party so he's on his own as far as catching up is concerned, but we're glad to have him along.

Younger Son is a sportswriter for the Auburn Plainsman, the student newspaper of Auburn University. He wrote a great piece a few months ago about our baseball journey, which I ran in my space shortly thereafter. I'm happy to share it with all of you today. I'll report back after the trip.

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