Good day! It's Monday and I am in my new office in the lobby of our hotel. Buddy is asleep on the sofa bed in the room, so I have left the room to work. Yesterday's breakfast guests in the lobby were the little league kids. Today, we have a family in town for a funeral. I don't have all the details yet, but my radar is on and apparently the man in the crisp white shirt and nice tie is giving the eulogy that he has yet to write. He is sitting at the computer next to me typing it as I am writing...the pressure is on. His family is waiting for him so they can leave for the funeral, yet he will not budge until the speech is written. His son looks bored. His brother is standing by the curb. The wife is not worried, she is sitting at a table drinking coffee....the man is typing furiously....more later. I won't leave my post until I have all of the details for you.
OK, it is day 2 for me in O-hi-O. I am beginning to get a feel for it. It seems that part of the community is 'small town'. Everyone knows each other. They are polite, kind, and good citizens. The other part is a bit more alarming. Yesterday I witnessed a major fight in Wal mart with a boyfriend and girlfriend screaming expletives at one another. I was paralyzed watching it. The rest of the shoppers went on with their shopping. (UPDATE: man delivering eulogy just printed speech and is headed for the door. It took him 6 minutes to think about it and write it....note....whoever delivers my eulogy, please spend less time on it and more time drinking coffee and spending time with family).
So, where was I? Right...Wal mart....I was minding my own business buying shampoo and granola bars for my kid when a fight erupts by the cashiers. No one looked up. Frankly, it is not my nature to ignore a fight in a discount super store run by the billionaire Walton family. The guy with the mohawk and multiple tattoos was screaming at the girl with the tats on her legs. She screamed back with an equal number of curses. He was louder but somehow she was the one who was going to win this brawl. As they moved toward the door I lost sight and sound. My cashier with the big rose tattoo on her forearm never looked up and continued to process my order. I was finished and the fight moved on.
I then headed for the ball park to watch the game. If you follow my blog, you know that Buddy is a pitcher and does not play everyday. It is a situation that I have had to adjust to since for the past several years, he was in each game playing first base and pitching in the rotation. I knew that he was off last night, so I was in no hurry to get there. I arrived at the bottom of the first inning. It was a beautiful night and I sat in the bleachers by myself with my own thoughts...no camera, just a water, hot dog and cell phone in my hands....day dreaming and watching the fans and players.
His team is comprised of various D-1 players from the east and midwest regions. He does not know anyone yet. Yesterday, he was a bit salty and claimed that he did not want to know any of them because they have nothing in common besides baseball (isn't that why they are here?). Further, they were not up to his 'intellectual level' (my words paraphrased, not his). The coach showed him how to get water for each game since he is now the pre game water boy and suggested that he write the instructions down so that he would not forget them. OK...my son is not a nuclear physicist, but he can remember the water routine (I think).
As the game progresses, I am intently watching it and texting Buddy and Tink. Yes, this league is a bit more relaxed and he has his cell phone in the bullpen. There are multiple characters that intrigued me. For example, there is a man with tattoos on each extremity and long salt and pepper hair pulled back in a ponytail. He has the team shirt and hat on. This gentleman in his 40's, I will call Gumby, because he does not have any teeth. Like Buddy, he has a job. He runs and collects the foul balls for the team. Although he does this at every game, I do not believe that he is paid. He can get into the park for free and have all of the Pepsi-Ones that he can drink.
There is another man who watches the games. His son plays the infield. According to dad (who was here for the first few days and made a number of friends), his wife gets upset when Junior is in a batting slump. Per this man, whom I am going to call 'Libido', he "doesn't get any action when Junior does not hit 'cause it upsets the little woman....'" After observing Libido in action, the little missus may be using Junior as her 'headache'. Last night Junior was 0-3 until the 8th inning when he ripped a single down the first base line. Libido was one happy guy as he cheered Junior and smiled at his wife.
There are so many more characters and new friends to write about and I will reveal them over the summer. Yesterday I was able to schedule the electricity and cable for the apartment. We move in on Saturday, then Buddy leaves for Kentucky for a game. Interestingly, we are sharing one car. I haven't shared a car since I co-owned an orange Volkswagen dasher with a big black racing stripe with my brothers in college. I did not like it then...I like it less now. But, that's the way it goes....it's time for me to go back to work...have a great day....
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