Day 4 - Listen

I like watching baseball, playoff baseball in particular. Live at the ballpark is my favorite, but watching from home on TV is also fun for me. Even better than the watching, though, is the listening.

We are fortunate in DC to have a FANTASTIC pair of radio people - Charlie (Slowes) and Dave (Jagler). They really bring the game to life with details and then an array of facts and baseball trivia and interesting tidbits to fill in all the in between. 

I let the girls listen when they go to bed if there's a game on. We listen when we're in the car. And I keep the radio up and the TV down when the Nats are on TV here. Charlie and Dave are my favorite baseball companions. 

Late last season, the Nats did a giveaway of a radio lanyard. This clever thing is a lanyard with a small radio built into a reversible single headphone. The wonder of this is that with it, while you are live at the ballpark, you can put Charlie and Dave right in your ear, no delay. It lets you get the detail you missed when watching. It lets you hear what's going on when you can't quite figure it out from the stands (he was ejected? why? ) I also use it when I want to tune out the chatter from some folks sitting around me. 

I listen to Charlie and Dave almost every night of the season when I am not at the ballpark. This year I have LOVED being able to listen to them while I am live there also. 

I got my hands on a few extras - one for each of the girls. A used it while we were at the Wild Card game this week and said it helped her track stuff better as well. Big win all around for the added gift of listening to the radio live at the ballpark.

Day 3 - Problem

Today's prompt is PROBLEM.  And I have a problem ... I am drawing a blank here. Interesting. I usually reason so hard and through so many permutations when trying to think through solutions that I wear myself to the point of exhaustion.

Today - the opposite. My brain is off. Perhaps that's too many late nights in a row (thanks playoff baseball - YAY and too much homework on practice nights for the girls - BOO). 

I am amused - it's been a long time since I felt like there was NOTHING happening in my brain. Sure sign I need to go to bed.

Although - another positive of my lack of topical thought here, I guess, is that there aren't any major pressing problems in my inner brain circle tonight. That should make a restful night in a few minutes. (CHEERING!!!).

So, with that I'll say - glad I made the effort to throw a few non important words on the page tonight to keep the streak going. That will help me want to write tomorrow. And keep me on track for all 31 days.

Goodnight friends.

Day 2 - Gift

Last night was a baseball game here in DC. My favorite team playing in a one game winner-take-all Wild Card game.

with our friend K, (left) before the game

Baseball as I've often written is my safe space. When I need to reset my brain (redirect, actually) or when I need to do some hard thinking, I do it best at the ballpark.

None of that was happening last night. The whole night was super intense. At least for me. My youngest got to come along with me. Oldest had a game with her varsity team and she made the right (if hard) choice to stay with the team. 

the view from our seats as the Nationals celebrated their win

We trekked down to the ballpark, smooshed in our little Subaru outback with friends. We watched the ebb and flow of the game. The horror of the early home runs against us. The glee of the home run as we tried to come back. The middle innings of good pitching and NO HITTING.  And then as we were down to our final 5 outs, the tide turned. You can read about it and listen to the radio call. 

And after it had turned, and the crowd roared all through it - the loudest I've ever heard my ballpark in person, and after the last fly ball was caught, we exhaled. And we screamed. We cheered and high-fived with strangers. A playoff win. A move forward to the next round.

a bunch of my in real life Nats friends, cheering with the win! 

And the gift of celebrating it with real life friends and stranger but family fan friends. There is little that compares to a playoff win. And the joy that comes when you share it? A gift of a memory to last a lifetime.

Day 1 - Why

Well, this is an appropriate prompt to start with! Why write? Why share my words from my head with friends (or even random internet strangers)? 

For me, sometimes I write (when I make the time) to help make sense of the jumble of thoughts in my brain. Sometimes it is to record some things we did so that I can share with my family (see the unfinished spring break posts) and friends so that I don't repeat myself, or so that far away friends can see and share in our adventures. Or so that I don't forget a memory that I later want to share with the kids. 

Occasionally I write because I am bored and need to refocus on something. Or because I've been meaning to call and catch up with someone but due to time zones and crazy schedules, it is ALWAYS the wrong time to call them. My bestie lives in Seattle.  I don't need to wake her at 4:12a just to ask how her kids are adapting to new schools. She would answer, every time I call, but that is hardly an emergency. So instead I write an email.

And sometimes I write here because it helps me keep a commitment or dust off some rusty skills that may need to be re-engaged. Maybe there's something I need to let out that I can't even put my finger on yet.  Or maybe I just need to see if I cam muster up the energy to make this a regular habit again. I was on a roll for a while and then for 2 years --- ZILCH. And I have missed the writing. And I have missed hanging out with the FMF community on Thursday nights. Life got in the way. 

As fall arrives this year, and I think about what 2019 has brought so far, it's brought a lot of new connections, but also a reminder that there are some old connections I have been missing more than I realized.  So thanks, Kate, for this chance to oil the rusty joints and reach back out to the FMF fun. Glad to be back.  And glad to see the why can still drive me to action.