|
| How can it be Labor Day Weekend?!? It makes me so sad that summer is just about over.... it always seems like it goes so fast, while winter drags on for months and months... and months. Anyway. I'm trying to enjoy every last minute of it here at the beach (today is GORGEOUS!), and tonight we'll have the whole family here for dinner, which will be fun (and hasn't happened nearly enough lately). So, any thoughts on McCain's pick of Sarah Palin? I have a few. While I was not a Hillary supporter (though had she won the nomination, I would have voted for her in the general election), I do think that McCain's move was a huge slap in the face to both her and her supporters. To me, it just shows how not in touch he is: if he thinks he can just grab any woman, prop her up there and expect women to vote for him, he's a fool. It was Hillary people wanted... not just any woman. Not to mention that it is a poor reflection on his sense of judgement, and it also takes the whole "experience" issue (his strongest argument until Friday morning) out of play. What was he thinking? He's 72 years old, looks older than that, frankly, because he's so frail, and could very well not make it for four years (not that I'm wishing that at all... I'm just sayin'). Then what? This person who has been governor of Alaska for a year and a half becomes the President of the most powerful country on the planet? Really? Really? Oh, well. We'll see what happens. In other news, yesterday was the Craft Fair down here in Ocean Grove. Vendors of all kinds of crap (good crap and bad crap) set up their booths and (what feels like) millions of people swarm to shop. I actually got some pottery, which is all I'm usually looking for there. One guy off to the side had a box of items he was selling for $1. It broke my heart because I knew they were worth more than that. (I took a pottery class a few years ago, and I know how much work goes into making even the smallest bowl.) I took a few things and gave him a little more than $1 each, and I can't wait to put them to use. After that I headed over to the outlets and did a little more shopping (Labor Day Sidewalk Sale -- whoot!) I went to The Children's Place and purchased my first pink outfit ever (did I mention that my sister is having a girl in January!?) I felt very unsure of myself ("does this pink go with this pink?" "what do you wear with these sandals?") navigating through these new waters. But I'm sure that come January I'll be an old pro. Last night Benjamin stopped over at my mom's house (ok, he brought his parents too) -- when he walked in the front door, he came running over to me and jumped into my arms and squeezed my neck in the best hug I've ever gotten. Seriously, there's nothing better than a hug from a 2-year-old. He was very cuddly last night, and I loved it. At one point, he climbed up onto my lap and just buried his face in my shoulder, spread out on me, as relaxed as could be. We also enjoyed some dip together. He likes to scoop up the dip on a pretzel, suck off the dip and then toss the pretzel back in the bowl. Whatever... the pretzel dries eventually  OK, beach time.... Hope you all enjoy the last weekend of summer! | | |
| Tonight on my ride home on the subway, a situation I witnessed made me so upset that I was in tears by the time I left the train. A man in a nice suit got on with his (about) 8 year old daughter. There was only one seat open, and the little girl took it; the person next to her got up so the father could sit next to her. My first thought was how nice it was that he had taken her into work and there was a part of me that missed those days of getting excited to go to work with my dad. I thought his office was so cool, and I loved playing with the phone and typewriter (yes, typewriter). He then proceeded to pull out the New York Times and read every single word on every single page while his daughter kept looking up at him to see if he would turn around to pay her any attention. They were in seats that faced backward, so she was by the window and the father was turned slightly so his back was to her. The train was moving so slowly because of whatever issue was causing the backup today, so we were there for almost an hour trying to get to Queens. Which meant more time for him to read and more time for the little girl to feel completely neglected. It broke my heart. Of course, I have no idea what goes on in their lives; not that I can think of anything that would excuse his behavior. But I was fast-forwarding her life in my mind and picturing something similar to mine. Thinking that this is how men behave. Putting your hand on his shoulder to try to get him to notice you, but being met with nothing. Wondering if he's going to turn around and see you. Or if he's ok with "just knowing that you're there." This is a line my father spoke to me and I'll never forget. My sister and I used to go to Ohio for three weeks every August to visit him after my parents' divorce, starting when we were 5 and 3. My dad was never, ever home. He was a workaholic, and we spent most of our visit with a babysitter. One night, I ran away. I had no idea where I was going, but I knew I wanted to get to the airport and go home. Of course, I didn't get very far. My dad came home from work and drove around to find me. I refused to get in the car. So he drove slowly next to me while I walked, and I must have said something like "why are we even here?! You don't even spend time with us!" to which he responded "I like knowing that you're going to be there when I get home." And I'm sure at the time that appeased me (what was my choice at 7 years old?) but years later I think it's the most selfish thing I've ever heard. He didn't care at all what us "being there" entailed. It meant trying to find things to occupy ourselves all day long, it meant being so homesick that we were nauseous, it meant that my mother was at home crying because she was helpless to do anything. All so we could "be there" when he got home. Which was usually followed by him leaving again for the evening. I'm not even sure this guy cared if his daughter was there or not. She just looked so lonely sitting there. No book, nothing to play with. Just sitting and watching her father read the paper. The message that he was sending -- that this paper is more important than you are -- literally brought me to tears. They always say that a woman's first "relationship" is with her father. I wanted to grab him by the throat and scream at him that the damage he was likely causing her would take years to undo. I wanted to grab her and run. But I didn't do anything. Because it's not my business. And I don't need to project my "stuff" on them. I should have given him my therapist's phone number to pass along to her later on. | | |
| Here we are in Pittsburgh... I don't know how many of you have been to this city, but I have to tell you, it's really beautiful.
Of all the stadiums I've been to (and I believe that number is about 14) it's one of the top 3 coolest. The view of the river and the bridges is amazing... the stadium itself is great, because you can walk anywhere and still see the game. Everyone is nice. Well, almost everyone. It can't be easy to be a fan of a team that has absolutely no chance to even make the post-season year after year. And some of them are bitter. But 99% of the Pirates fans we encountered were friendly.
But the best part is hanging out with Mets fans. Complete strangers bond instantly. We met a guy named Jerry, a kindergarten teacher from Long Island City (Queens) who was there with a bunch of friends.... we talked for about an hour, telling stories of all the standout games we'd been to ("I was there when LoDuca tagged out two Dodgers at home in one play") ("I was there the game before the Endy Chavez catch") and so on.... Really great guy. Will post pics later (I forgot my usb cable)
As I mentioned before, we're staying at the same hotel as the Mets; when we came back (we walked over the bridge to get back to the hotel. Did I mention how gorgeous this city is?) there were a bunch of Mets fans in the lobby waiting for the bus to arrive with the players. When they finally came in, it all happened so fast that I couldn't get anything but the back of people's heads. Disappointing. Plus, I was kind of hurt that some of them didn't remember us from spring training 
We chatted with one woman who was there with her sons.... she said that when they all left the hotel earlier today for the game, they each came out pretending like they were on their cell phones so they didn't have to deal with the fans. (Rude.) So a few minutes ago, Ryan changed into nicer clothes and went down to the lobby (he's actually on his way out to pick up a new toothbrush) ... he called me from the lobby and said that several people thought he was a player. I told him he should sign a baseball for someone and make their day. He thinks he's going to hang out with the players tonight. (I don't think it's actually going to happen, but he's not hearing me.)
Anyway, I'm quite content to sit in the hotel room, read a book and just be glad to not be in the car.
Pictures to come in a couple days.
Go Mets! | | |
| So, I'm here in the Westin, wishing I was still sleeping in my Heavenly Bed... but when I first woke up and made the mistake of checking my email, I found that I was inadvertently sending out spam on Facebook... so all my friends were getting not-so-nice messages on their wall. I spent the next 45 minutes deleting it from everyone's page, so hopefully I got to it before they did.
Anyway. I'm up now. And Ryan's still sleeping, which means his computer is mine.
Last night we went to the Mets/Nationals game... aside from the horrible parking issues (you can either park in a shady -- and I don't mean covered by trees - for $25 a couple blocks from the stadium, the only other option is to drive to the old stadium (RFK) about 10 minutes away, park there for free and take a shuttle bus back to the new stadium. Which is what we -- and thousands of other people -- did. It actually wasn't horrible; just not what we'd planned on, so we missed the first pitch. Which I hate.
The game itself was good (we won) and the fans and employees and Nationals Park are very, very nice. Normally, with a team in our division, it would be second nature to heckle. But not here. The team is just so bad that it's not even enjoyable. Philly? Florida? Atlanta? Yes. DC? No.
In a little while we are leaving for Pittsburgh. Hopefully the traffic getting into that town won't be as bad as here in DC (good GAWD!) And the best part is that I found out yesterday from a friend who's also going to the game AND staying at my hotel (totally coincidental) that we are STAYING AT THE SAME HOTEL AS THE METS!!!!!!
Now, this happened once before by accident. In 2003, Ryan and I drove to Atlanta to meet up with my aunt and uncle. They were nice enough to treat us to a room a the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead, which alone would have been amazing. But when we were coming back from the Saturday afternoon game, as we walked into the hotel, we saw a bus pull up out front. Imagine our faces when we realized every single Mets player was getting off the bus and walking into our hotel!!! We ran (RAN!) into the lobby and managed to get onto an elevator with some of them. Of course, I couldn't stop talking, while Ryan was figuring out how he could disappear. (I didn't care...I had nothing to lose). We saw them later on in the hotel restaurant and wandering around the lobby (Ryan almost killed me when I waved at one of them that we'd been in the elevator with: "Mom! He's not your friend!")
But now we are older and wiser (and we hung out with them at Spring Training, so really, we ARE friends!) and hopefully will be able to be cooler tonight if we see them at the hotel.
(I wouldn't count on it though) | | |
| I may or may not have mentioned (and you may or may not have been able to tell) that I'm on vacation this week... I'm down at the Shore today, but tonight am heading up to the city for a Neil Diamond concert (whoot!!). I'd love to say that I'm going to spend the day on the beach, but um, right now I'm trying to find socks and a sweatshirt because it feels more like October 12 than August 12. Which kinda sorta sucks because I haven't been on the beach in weeks. On Sunday night, my sister's family and I went to see Boston and Styx at PNC Bank Arts Center, which is an outdoor concert venue. Honestly? Can't remember having that much fun. I was a singing, dancing maniac, and really, it's a shame they didn't bring me up onstage, because all my talent was hidden way in the back of the lawn area. Oh, well....their loss. I was beyond impressed with the lead singer they (Boston) found on YouTube to replace Brad Delp, who died last year. This dude sounded EXACTLY LIKE HIM!!! And he worked at Home Depot! But posted a video of himself singing their songs, and boom! Lead singer! Now that, my friends, is a dream come true. They were amazing, and I was ecstatic to see them in person; I listen to them every morning on my iPod on the way to work, and I'm pretty sure that if I was stuck on a deserted island, their music would be what I took. I'm 70s like that. Yesterday my sister Jenny and I went to see "Step Brothers." Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly had to be funny, right? And it was.... waaaaay over the top, but I laughed waaaaay more than a 41-year-old woman should have. Yes, there were some moments where I rolled my eyes, but for the most part, it was ridiculously entertaining. Tomorrow I'll be at home getting organized because Thursday morning Ryan and I leave for Washington, DC and Pittsburgh. Very excited about that... and then the following week Ryan goes back to school. It feels like the summer is going way too quickly, and frankly, this fall breeze doesn't help that matter. Anyway, I'll check in again after our little road trip. Hope everyone's doing well! | | |
|
|
True
