Opening the Eyes

"You once wrote, 'there comes a time when all the cosmic tumblers have clicked into place and the universe opens itself up for a few seconds to show you what's possible.'" (Ray Kinsella)

OK, so it's not exactly on the level of that kind of enlightenment, but two things conspired this weekend to make me understand something I hadn't before, and since it was baseball-related, you have to toss in the good ole Field of Dreams quotes.

Yesterday, I happened to catch some of "This Week in Baseball", more specifically, a trivia note they put up on the screen. Seems the first baseball-related hit song was from Chuck Berry. "Brown-eyed Handsome Man" was about Willie Mays, who of course played centerfield for the New York (and then San Francisco) Giants.

Tonight, I'm trying to put Benjamin to sleep and doing it in baseball-related ways. I sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" a few times, but, while he enjoyed it, that wasn't enough. So I pulled out of my musical inventory John Fogerty's "Centerfield."

As I started in, the lyrics in the first verse that I had never understood suddenly became so much clearer:

"Rounding third, and heading for home,
it's a brown-eyed handsome man."

I always thought that was a strange lyric in the midst of the song, but now that I know that 1) it refers to possibly the greatest centerfielder ever and 2) is a homage of sorts to another baseball song, it makes loads more sense.

OK, so all of those who figured I wouldn't mow my lawn this weekend, raise your hands. Lots of them out there. I'd say I'm offended by your lack of faith, but since you were right, it kinda defeats the purpose. I got up to do it Saturday morning, but the storms had rolled through around 2-3 AM, so the grass was still way too wet to do anything with. Of course, that makes it even more of a jungle and I'll probably jam the mower trying to do it, but I'm going to have to make an attempt tomorrow after work, I think.

Saturday afternoon, all of us went to Richard and Barbara's 50th wedding anniversery reception. I plan on making another blog post about the two of them, so I'll just talk about the reception. They had asked Meron to take pictures, so she was in her element. She posed family members, took candids, came up with picture ideas, everything. She wound up taking about 7 rolls of film in the 4 hours she worked, and I think she had a great time. She's a little worried about how they'll come out, but I have a feeling they are going to be wonderful and the whole family will be pleased.

Lots of people turned out and there was a fairly steady stream of people coming in. They had some old pictures of their wedding and themselves blown up on the wall, which were great to see. They also had a computer slide show of pictures running. To see Richard in his high school football outfit or Barbara in one of those long flowing dresses really took you back to a much earlier time, and it was great to see. Their whole family was there, as well, which made the day even that much more special.

Saturday night was poker, which was another waste of $15. Never got a whole lot of strong hands, and when I did, I either was priced out of the hand or beaten anyway. I pulled pocket aces once and tried not to overplay them, but the $2000 bet (which was just one bet over the minimum at the time) ran everybody out. I wound up 5th out of 7, which has been my typical placement lately.

This afternoon we visited my parents, who of course were glad to see Benjamin. I think they knew we were there too. :) It's tough on Meron somewhat because her parents are up in Ohio and only get to see him once or twice a year, while my parents get to see him once or twice a week. I'm glad that they get the chance to spend some time with him, though, and I think he will be too as he grows up.

By the way, I think I left out the most important ingredient in Meron's nachos--the cheese! It gets put on right after the beans and baked on as well. I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking by leaving that out!

Hard to believe this is the last week of August and that September will be here Thursday. This year has just flown by!