It started out as a simple text message from my brother: "Do you have a baseball glove?"
He knows that I haven't seen my glove since I left for college. I think my step-brother claimed it as his own and hid it as he did so many things of mine while we shared a room.
I called him back. I hate texting especially when it comes to asking questions that require more than a yes or no.
"What do you need a glove for?" I asked.
"I don't need it, I just bought one and I wanted to play catch," he responded.
I hadn't thrown a baseball since last summer. But the timing of his response brought about an emotion in me I hadn't really felt since my senior year of high school, an itch (not that type of itch fools). The sun was out and shining bright, and it wasn't one of those deceiving type sunny days.
No, the temperature hovered around 62 degrees for a high, and I wanted to be outside with my brother tossing a baseball around. Seeing if my knuckle-curve and knuckler still worked. Reliving the good ole days.
He had an extra glove, so when I got off work I met him at his place. There we commenced to playing catch behind his apartment building.
A few people looked on sporadically. A few were cigarette smokers, a few were passer-by jogger types. I'm sure they all were wondering "Why are two grown-ass black men outside in suburbia playing catch with a baseball?"
You're probably wondering the same thing. But you see, it took us back to our youth for if only a half-hour. The beginning of March is madness for many, but for us growing up it was the beginning of baseball season.
I've wanted to spend a summer playing ball - in an adult baseball league, none of that softball stuff - again for quite sometime, and now I've got that itch again, and this time I'm gonna scratch it. My brother played last year, and I think that I'm joining him in the Midwest summer heat.
It's gonna be fun and carefree. Just like it used to be.
Ed's Note: Warning! I'm gonna keep that Alan Thicke's son's song on my page for a little while longer. At least a few more days.
Monday, March 12, 2007
An Itch I'm Gonna Scratch
Saturday, March 10, 2007
I Need Love
I just thought I'd hit you with my favorite song of the moment. Robin Thicke's I Need Love ... enjoy.
I Apologize Revisited
Why after I wrote the previous post about "not saying I'm sorry" did I say I was sorry three different times. Twice, I received a sarcastic reply. Again, this is my life.
Click Here to Read More..Friday, March 09, 2007
I Apologize
Today I will explain to you why you should never tell someone that you are sorry for something that you did. This way, you can say that you learned something from reading my post.
You do something bad to someone. You have a remorseful soul so you decide to tell him or her:
"What I did to you was totally wrong and out of character. I'm sorry."
He or she is full of sarcasm, and instead of an apology they decide to humor anyone who can hear.
"I agree with you, you are sorry."
How do you avoid this situation where someone can make you feel worse than you already did? You always say, "I apologize."
I know it, it sounds a little to formal and contrite. It's also the name of a great Anita Baker tune, but that's neither here nor there. Just don't sing it as a part of your apology.
It seems insignificant. But, at least, you don't have to worry about someone ripping you a new one. This has happened to me many times, and I am just now catching on.
Ed's note: I don't do bad things that often. But it is apparent that I have many sarcastic friends who say things like this all of the time.
My luck is worse than a penny with a hole in it. I'm serious. If I pick tails, the coin that flips in the air will most assuredly have heads on both sides. That is my luck. Even though I don't believe in luck. I guess that would make it my fate.
Click Here to Read More..Wednesday, March 07, 2007
A U-Turn for My Sanity
Last week, I couldn't find my keys. Yesterday, I realized that I had misplaced my contacts. And today?
Well I got to the intersection of I-35 and 95th Street prepared to turn left on to the highway and take my five minute trek down the I-35, just me and my sportstalkradio like I do every morning. It was there that I realize I left my cell phone sitting on my bed.
This is what is happening to me since I started waking up frazzled at 6 a.m. everyday to go to work a few weels ago.
Now anyone who knows me, knows that without my cell phone I might as well be naked. I won't be surprised if at age 55 they find some insurmountable cancer inside my left thigh (where my phone normally resides) or on the left side of my face (where the phone rests when I'm on it).
That said, I had to make U-turn, or waste 10 minutes on the highways backtracking to my house, and risk being late for work. U-Turns, in my Kansas county, are legal. But when there is a police car facing you, they just don't seem all to legal.
I faced a decision: just go on to work without my phone or be bold and bust the legal u with the cop right on my tail.
You know me. I'm daring. And since I wasn't breaking a law, I chose the latter option.
With that choice, I was unceremoniously DWB-profiled. No, he didn't pull me over, but the cop got on my ass and followed me until I had to make another legal u-turn to make my way onto my street. I didn't want to make it, but I didn't have much of a choice.
I felt sick because I just knew that cop was going to pull me over and try to find some scratch on my record from 15 years ago. Please note that 15 years ago I was 11, and hadn't been behind the wheel yet.
I digress, this waking up at 6 a.m. daily stuff, it's gonna take a minute to get used to again.
Ed's Note: This has little to do with nothing, but I thought I'd mention that my favorite Brian McKnight cd is entitled U-Turn. I couldn't fit it into the story anywhere, so I stuck it at the end.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Learning to Swim
One of my friends wrote a column I found to be powerful and inspirational. It's worth the read. Here's the link:
Swimming Lessons ...
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Corny KC Commericals ...
If there are any of you Kansas City people out here who can appreciate this I hope you do. Do you remember these three local commercials:
1. The "I Have A Brilliant Personality" trying to get a job commercial?
2. "Shawnee Mission Kia, just a short drive, Shawnee Mission Parkway and I-35?"
3. "Rubins Case Cabiano(sp) and Bryant" ...
If you do, can you think of anymore cheesy Kansas City related commercial that are stuck in your brain because you just happened to have the television on but weren't really paying attention because you'd seen it 500 times before because you were doing the same exact thing. I'm trying to lengthen this list, so if you can think of any, leave a message.
