#8: Take a Swing at the Batting Cages

When I was younger, my brother and I would play baseball in the backyard. We had this perfect diamond layout with a small pine standing as umpire, a large maple at first, a sapling at second, and a young crabapple tree at third. My brother and I, having moved around a lot and used to adapting games to only two players, had adjusted the normal rules of baseball to suit our needs. Our game involved the use of several ghostmen, and a lot of theoretical debates over whether said ghostmen were safe or not.

I was not athletic growing up. My family was not heavily involved in sports, and I was not formally introduced to team sports until high school. For me, my most memorable athletic moments came in that backyard with my brother, when I would hit a ball that would go flying into a neighbor's yard two doors down. It wasn't until years later when I realized we had been hitting tennis balls with an aluminum bat; of course it went flying. But at the time, it was the first indication that perhaps I could try something athletic and not suck at it. Those memories are what inspired me to add the batting cages to my list.

Tonight started as one of those magical evenings that Kevin and I have every so often. He called on the way home to exclaim on what a beautiful night it was and to say he would stop along the way for a box of Rocks. I met him on the patio where we began to casually discuss life and our days in general. One of us came up with the idea of a small game of catch out in the front yard, and we grabbed gloves and a ball and headed out. From there I mentioned the fact that we still needed to go to the batting cages to cross it off my list, and Kevin spontaneously suggested we go now.


As we stepped into the cage I asked Kevin where the helmets were and he informed me that it wasn't really necessary in the slow pitch softball cages. I asked him to evaluate my swing beforehand and I could immediately see from the look on his face that I needed a lot of work. I dropped my token and tried my best. The slowness of the pitch caught me off guard as far as the timing of my swing. Further, klutz that I am, I somehow managed to put the first two fingers of my right hand in the path of the ball during one swing. It hurt and I cursed, but stepped back up to the plate. Kevin tried to give me a few pointers, while I tried through trial and error to adjust my swing. Overall, I found out I am not the prodigy hitter that I had imagined myself at age 7. But I had fun in a "I tried something new and was challenged" sort of way. And that's really what this whole list is about.

***Not my best swing featured in the picture, but it's the only one that came out.

7 down; 23 to go

Updates

Some of you may have noticed that I’ve only completed six items on my list so far, and may be concerned about the speed with which August is approaching. Not to worry my friends, I have a plan.

Here are a few updates regarding my progress with some ongoing projects:

• The 10k date is set. I pushed it out as far as I could to allow as much time as possible for training. I’ll be running the Rosaryville 10k Trail Run on July 18th. Currently I’m running 2-3 miles at a time. I’m fairly comfortable with three miles, but I haven’t attempted four yet, so we’ll see what happens. 10k = 6.2 miles; so I have a ways to go, but it doesn’t seem as impossible as it did a month ago.
• June is going to be FUNDRAISING month!! So please keep an eye on your mailboxes/inboxes for a touching letter from me which will hopefully inspire you to donate a little bit for a good cause.
• Anna Karenina. Oh Anna, why is your story so long, and so… Russian—the names are killing me!! Kidding… I’m about a quarter of the way into Tolstoy’s tale and I’m really enjoying it. For something written in 1873, it manages to stay surprisingly current. I guess love affairs will always be the same.
• #23, still terrified. A date has been set, and the non refundable deposit has been paid. That’s all I will say for now, because even thinking about it fills me with anxiety.
• Camping trip to False Cape state park for some “primitive” camping has been planned. The campsite is only accessible by foot or boat, has no bathrooms, no supply of drinking water, and is a 9 mile hike from the parking area where you leave your car. Should be interesting.

More posts coming soon… I’ll be in Richmond this weekend visiting friends, and will hopefully have a chance to cross off a few more things on the list.

#30: See a Game at Fenway Park

There’s a sign outside the stadium that reads, “Welcome to Fenway Park, America’s Most Beloved Ballpark.” After my first visit, it’s not hard to see why.

Opened in 1912, it’s the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. If you haven’t been there, you should go. For one thing, it involves a trip to Boston, one of the oldest and most storied cities in our country's history. If you aren’t at least a little awed to be walking along the same streets as Paul Revere, Ben Franklin and Cliff Clavin, you must not have a pulse.

The stadium is situated right in the city, next to Boston University and blends in well with its surroundings. You can walk right up to it before you realize you’re entering a professional sports arena. The venue itself is small and harkens back to a different time. You almost feel like you’re back in the classic era of Ted Williams, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. You can imagine yourself watching a game in the 30s, surrounded by families coming out to enjoy America’s favorite pastime, singing ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’. It is so much less about computerized ad graphics, steroids, and free-agents; and more about one team simply trying to claim the day. The scoreboard on the Green Monster is still changed by hand, by an actual person.

Kevin and I flew into Boston for the weekend, and met up with some friends, Bunny and Liz. We had tickets to see the Yankees play the Red Sox for a Saturday afternoon game. It had been raining all morning, but seemed to clear up just in time for the game. It was a good thing too because our tickets were “Standing Room Only” on the roof, down the right field line.

At some point during the sixth inning I ducked down to the ladies room and while washing my hands, heard about the rain delay of the Red Sox game on TV. Apparently in the three minutes I had been gone, the bottom had dropped out of the sky and it began to pour. The wind blew so hard that our neighbors’ umbrella immediately turned Mary Poppins style inside out upon opening. Liz’s umbrella snapped in two.

Undaunted, my Knight in Shining Armor (a.k.a. drunk Kevin) ran with the useless bottom half of Liz’s umbrella down to the restrooms to retrieve me. We huddled around the stadium bar for cover as much as possible and waited. At some point we gave up on the umbrella and the game and journeyed back to the bar, after buying some new (read “dry”) Red Sox gear.

From that point on we enjoyed an evening out in Boston. We awoke to a beautiful sunny day, and a great view of the Charles River from our hotel room (thanks D!!), and flew home.

6 down; 24 to go

#19: Bake a Pineapple Upside Down Cake

When I was little my dad would beg my mom to make Pineapple Upside Down Cakes for any occasion, and whenever she agreed, he would dance around the house with the joy of a school boy. I was less than overjoyed to say the least.

I didn’t like most fruits when I was young, a fact that I find hard to believe now. I didn’t like apples because I thought they were too hard, I didn’t like oranges because of the peeling involved, and I have no idea why I didn’t like strawberries… probably because my big brother told me I didn’t and I believed him. I absolutely did not like coconut and I still don’t. I have tried it several times, although usually by mistake. Is there anything worse that picking a chocolate out of box and biting into it, only to realize you choose the icky coconut piece? Needless to say I always gave away any Mounds or Almond Joys to my brother after trick-or-treating. Because I hated coconut, I logically decided (with my sound seven year old logic) that I hated all fruit flavors from the tropical genre, pineapple included. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Pineapple, especially fresh pineapple, is delicious!

Equipped with this new knowledge, one of my friends recommended baking a pineapple upside down cake for my list and I thought I would give it a try. This past weekend I celebrated my mom’s birthday, and in what Kevin would call a “two birds move,” I volunteered to bake the cake. No mixes used here, this was a scratch effort. I blended my flour, sugar and eggs together and the resulting batter took me right back to my childhood. The taste was so sweet it made my throat itchy. I remembered licking the bowl when I was little and vowing never to buy a spatula when I had kids, so as not to rob them of that joy. I hated my mom’s spatulas; wooden spoons left behind so much more. I poured my batter over my pineapple and brown sugar mix, and popped it in the oven. It came out beautifully (pictures coming soon) and tasted even better.

So now that I know I can do it… Dad, get ready to dance with joy for Father’s Day!!

5 down; 25 to go