Spring Baseball Tales ReSpring

SPRING

All About the RE.

The greatest time of year.

Harbinger of

Rebirth, Renewal, Regrowth, Re-dedication, Regeneration, Rejuvenation, Recharging, Replenishment, Restoration, Revitalization, Revival, Reawakening,

REJOICING
 

I am so thankful for spring every year. I love the newness it brings.
New flowers, new greenery, new life - animals and children, new longer days - yes, I love Daylight Savings Time.

Then, of course, it is the harbinger of the Great American Past Time - BASEBALL

Each and every year since I moved to Sunny Florida, The University of Florida continues to impress me with their involvement in the community especially with the school children.

Our baseball tale begins with winning tickets on a radio contest to a Saturday game. It was the weekend between my birthday and my 10 year old son's birthday. What a great, unexpected thing to do with him for our birthdays.

We have not been to a Gator Baseball game before. High Adventure Here.
Needless to say it's been a very long time since I've been to a baseball game. I called a friend who has sons that play to find out how long a game lasts -she tells me anywhere from 2 -4 hours . Oh Boy!
What I remember most - long, slow, and Take Me Out To The Ball Park music.

We find the stadium and parking - another great accomplishment.
We of course have a snack bag - mother of 3 ya know.
An officer is at the entrance, who checks your bags for dangerous items.
We had 2 plastic bottles of sparkling tea, 1 can of soda and trail mix.
The officer says" I can't let you take the soda in because it can act like a missile. You are welcome to step back outside the entrance and drink it. "

Now I only drink one soda - Dr. Pepper and there is no way I'm gonna waste one. My son says he has never seen me drink a soda that fast. I was guzzling for sure. We contemplated a can versus a plastic bottle as missiles. They both get very hard when shaken. I guess the aluminum is considered more dangerous than the plastic lol. I think getting hit by either would be stunning to say the least.

Finally in the stadium, we ask an usher where to find our seats and a wonderful, gentleman calls the usher over to give him 2 tickets for the Sunday game for us. WOW. What a wonderful thing to do and we so appreciated it.

We had tons of fun together and the Gators won. There was no way we weren't going back for the Sunday game since they announced that there would be free T-shirts, autograph books and pins for the first 500 kids on Sunday. MOMS & DADS YOU WILL BRING YOUR CHILDREN. LOL

Now, we offered the girl child the opportunity to go to this game since the other boy was off camping with the boy scouts. She didn't think it was a COOL thing to do. No real surprise there - 14 and angst.

Sunday gets here pouring down spring rains. I say - Honey there is no way I'm sitting in the rain for a game. I have never in my life done that for anybody or team. The disappointment in those big, beautiful, blue eyes was enough to make me get on the phone and internet to find out if they were going to call the game due to weather. It's raining buckets surely they are going to cancel.  Guess what another of those times - I AM WRONG!! Dern my average is really getting blasted these days.

Off to the stadium we go. Now we are old pros. Right. No problems. An hour and 10 minutes before the 1 PM Start. My son gets his t-shirt and pin and autograph book. The rain starts to lighten up. Delay due to weather, game will start at 2:40. Oh my, what do we do for 2 hours and 50 minutes??? You hang out in the tunnels to stay dry. Actually the entertainment wasn't bad. Watching the team pull the tarp over to get the lake removed and put it back in the wind was educational and funny. Taking it off the field totally was even more entertaining as it whipped in the wind, 8-10 foot swells coming into the beach.

At the Saturday game, we were still uninitiated to all the goings on at these Gator games. Sunday we know and find the 4 boxes where you can register for different things, like being the Junior Gator Announcer, the Gator Races, the Gator Mystery box and the final Gator Runs for the game.  My son got picked to be the announcer. Sooooo Coooool. He was in the press box and announced the Gator batters in the 5th inning. He was awesome - could this be a career choice - maybe - he got to have the experience thanks to UF. Every time a Gator Pitcher strikes out a batter, they throw t-shirts into the crowds - we got 2 of those that weekend. He got all the stuff and got all the players to autograph his book too.
Now the other boy is home and even the girl's interest is piqued.

Here is a great reason to work for yourself from home. On Wednesday, I get an email that there will be $1 admissions to baseball game that night and $1 drinks, hot dogs and a few of the other concession items. SO I get my appointments covered and off the whole family goes to the game. Being able to do things on a moments notice - PRICELESS.

Once again UF provides my family with a great night at the ball game. My daughter was chosen for the Junior Announcer, the boys were picked to do the gator races - where they go on field and represent blocks of scorecard holders. The child that wins and all the score card holders in their group get Chick-Fil-La coupons.

My children are "like mom you need to calm down, people are looking at you, oh no she's dancing to the music, ack she does the loudest Go Gators" Could they crawl under the stands - well yes they could. My oldest son says "MoMMMM people are going to laugh at you!!!!!"

My Answer: Let them, I don't care, I'm here to have fun and that includes - I get to SCREAM & YELL and it's not at ya'll for a change. 

So the only thing we haven't gotten in these 3 games is a ball. Most go out of the stadium. A few hit in the stands. At the very end of the game, the oldest boy asks can he go out front to see if he can get a ball. Well lo & behold, the game ball is a foul out of the stadium and he got it. Then he got a couple of the players to autograph it.

I must say baseball games have changed. We had a blast. Cool music during all the wait times. Drawings held to win prizes during the game.  I hope you are near a school that offers fun like this. If not  - I would ask why they don't. As you keep reading, I will be giving you more examples of this university's participation in this community.


Hope you laughed with us today. Go See A Baseball Game, scream & yell like there's no tomorrow. 
REJOICE IT'S SPRING

Tylenol for the Eyeball

Good Day on this Wonderful Wednesday the 24th of March

Well, I had not planned this post but due to my last week and the things I learned, I just couldn't resist the title.

So here is an eye tale.

I woke up Thursday last week with my eyelid stuck to my eyeball which leads to corneal abrasions. I was uncomfortable but know our eyes heal fast, so I'd be good by in the morning. Was I ever WRONG that time. Yes, I was wrong. On Friday, I woke up to total light blindness in the right eye with sympathetic reaction in the left eye.

Now 2 of my children go to a school out of our zone and I have to drive them 6.5 miles to school. HaHaHaHa tears, tears, tears, HAHAHA

I kept everyone home from school. They should all be overjoyed RIGHT ?

WRONG AGAIN dern just knew I had that one right- my oldest - the girl child -oops young woman- pitches a bloody, hissy fit that she just has to be at school, she has 3 tests and 2 projects to turn in and she can't make any of it up, there are no make ups, blah, blah, blah.

Against my better judgment, with a Sunflower Bandana, pirate style over my right eye which wasn't working out to well and just ended up covering the eye with my hand, hi ho off to school we go.

Thank goodness everyone on the road survived our trip to school. I had the boys still with me to be my right eye. As we got to a shopping center, at the intersection where I have to turn into the rising Florida SUN to get to the eye doc, I was blinded by the light and just barely got into the parking lot without a wreck. We sat there about 40 minutes, waiting for the eye to settle down and the sun to get over the windshield, when my oldest son decides we need help and calls the school Deputy on the phone.

Next , we have not 1 but 2 deputies. One takes the middle school son to school and the other takes me and the youngest to the eye doc, drops me off, then takes my son on to his school. So now my car is stranded, my children are stranded at school and I'm stranded at the eye doc's.

When the doc comes in he wants to know how I am -Well, How many patients do you have arrive in police cars? He replies - well not many and those are usually wearing orange jumpsuits  lol lol.

Now you ask  - ok what's in here for me besides a few laughs.

Here are some of the things I learned from 3 different docs during this process.

Numbing drops are lifesavers but are still only available at the doc's office because people will tend to keep their eye numb and can't tell if things are getting better or worse. MANY years ago the drops were cocaine based therefore only available at the doc's. They say the new ones are no longer cocaine based but we still don't get them.

MY ANSWER - they have individual use drops of every kind - why not these, especially for those of us who have only one driver in the family. At least for the 20 minutes my eye is numb, I can get safely to their office and not in a cop car.

I got my first band-aid contact. Instant relief for most of the pain. Did you know such an animal existed?

The 2nd day and 2nd doc, I learn they do have a pain drop they will give you - described as "Tylenol for the Eyeball" now of course it's not really Tylenol so don't put any in your eyes.

Then the doc told me to take 1000 mg of Tylenol (for those of us who are not brand specific types, I believe any acetaminophen will do) plus an Aleve (naproxen) was the same as taking Tylenol with codeine but none of the side effects or addiction problems- WOW - didn't know that and it definitely goes in the good to know file.

Was there a preventative measure? Other than the ointments that I used at night since this started about a year ago - not really. Mine is due to underlying defects in my cornea.

Treatment options. Put lots of drops & ointments in my eyes daily and before bed for the rest of my life with times that it will happen anyway. Or there is a surgery - either scraping or laser type, EWWWWWW they remove the cornea down to the base and it regrows. And you know, for all these eye surgeries you are awake and seeing it - ACK.

Our eyes are truly miraculous organs, just the process that allows us to see is utterly amazing. They also heal very fast. With 3-5 days of totally incapacitating - not a chance in the world are you going to drive a car- pain a thousand times worse than what I've had and you have a new cornea. Pretty impressive.

This will reduce the dry eye issues and give clearer/cleaner/sharper vision. No it will not change your prescription.

I'll let you know what else I learn, as I go through the process.

Of course, Everything happens for a reason. As I arrived at the eye doc's, I got a call from a friend on her way out of town (ie NOT AT WORK), who came to rescue all the stranded of the day.

So a rather yucky eye tale  and a girl tale (Don't get me wrong, I am truly thankful she takes her school work so seriously but we need to work on a few reality based priorities - like they will let you make up work when there is a family emergency) are certainly covered for today.

A cluster of bananas is called a hand and consists of 10 to 20 bananas, which are known as fingers.
A green hand week - rather appropriate to follow St. Patrick's day wouldn't you say?

Don't forget to laugh - it's good for you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 – the greatest birthday with the very best parties, I remember my 21^st in Savannah - Now that was birthday party.

 

St. Pat's Day Trivia courtesy of Wikipedia -"The phrase "the wearing of the green", meaning to wear a shamrock on one's clothing, derives from the song of the same name."

 

SO I’ve turned 50, and now I get to plan for the second act.

 

This is how all this started for me. What does it mean to be 50? It’s just a number right? Is there wisdom at 50? I’m so excited about the 50^th. I have had a few comments from folks, like- I’ve never seen anyone so excited about their 50^th birthday. Then some of my male buddies take it a step further with – I’ve never seen a WOMAN this excited about 50. My thought -WHY NOT. It is a great life milestone– there has to be a great celebration.

 

I’ve been getting ready for this birthday for 5 years. I’ve been working on several gifts to myself for this day. My number one gift to me is health. First, I started rebuilding a tired, broken down, rode hard, put up wet body. There’s been posture restructuring, injury recovery, karate, walking, biking, ect. Certainly no picnic and we’ll be talking lots about the process involved in future posts. Second, I started rebuilding a tired, broken down, rode hard, put up wet spirit. Even less of a picnic with more to come. Third, I began a business. Don’t we all?

 

Since January, the approach of this day has sent my mind in so many directions. Nostalgia – where are all those, I’ve lost touch with? Has life been good to them? And courtesy of this great electronic age, places like Face Book can make those re-connections happen.

 

I’m a tail-end baby boomer and the last of our generation is beginning to cross the 50 yard line. What an amazing age to have been born in. The things we have seen come to pass – science fiction come to life. Just take computers and the internet. When we were in high school, uh-oh here comes one of those when I was your ageisms - there was no such thing at home and hardly at college, no internet at all. We programmed mainframe computers with punch cards. All you young bloods have no idea what a pain in the rear that was. The computer languages we used are effectively dead like Latin you know, written but not spoken. And so many other advances, we’ll get to them as we go along.

 

I’m the mother of 3 – a girl & 2 boys (ages 10, 13, 14) what was I thinking??? - so there will be many tales, from them, about them, and parenting tales, too. 

 

Tall tales, wagging tales, annoying tales, cat tales-some tailless, wild tales, a few fish tales and a snakey tale or two as well - I probably have one just for you. LOL and bad poetry too.

 

Ahhh the trials, tribulations, the processes, the journey and joys, ultimately so many joys. 

 

The first half is done, now for act 2-shooting for the century St. Patrick’s Day birthday. What a blow out birthday that will be. Half time is ending, the curtain is rising, no turning back now, only great things to come. 

 

First, I hope to make you laugh. 

I hope to help you find inspiration, some courage and choices.

 

Why are we eating green bananas? Stay Tuned Right here every Wonderful Wednesday to find out -eventually lol, for those in the “JOB” Force that’s hump day and you know you are looking for anything but work to get you through the afternoon, so come on by and see the day’s tale. It might be yours.