Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Work...a four letter word

Greetings! It was time for a new post even though there is no real baseball going on. I think that I have enough news to fill up the page. It's early and Tink and Buddy have left the house. Both have jobs today. Yes, that's right...they are doing a four-letter word that begins with "W" and ends with "K". The best part about this word and action is that they will receive a pay check. Nice....perhaps the car will receive a gift...a full tank of gas. It has been so long. Buddy commented yesterday that for $11.00, he put 3 gallons of gas into the car. Can you believe it? A budding accountant....OK, let's not go that far...he is becoming a wary consumer since mama cut him off.

Last night Buddy and I were invited out with his friends and their moms. This was so nice. My son is no longer embarrassed by me and even laughed with me in public (I have a photo of all of us smiling together). Is he evolving or am I less embarrassing? Granted, we paid for everything and even bought them the "Great Wall of China" Chocolate cake at PF Chang's, but it is not all about food. It's about spending time with friends and your parents when you can relax and actually have a bit of fun. This is in direct contrast to his horror when he saw us walk into the baseball banquet together. He did his best to hide his 6'4" frame from us without much success. We landed up sitting on the other side of the party and pretended we were with another kid who liked having his folks around. On Diva dog's life, I swear that I did not curse or dribble my food from the left side of my mouth or get slap happy drunk. My pants were zipped and buttoned. Perhaps there was something else that made him flee from the site...maybe he thought that I was going to bring out the baby picture with him holding one of his action figures or smiling on his ma's lap or a lock of his hair from his first cut. Not sure, but I am happy that things have changed.

Tomorrow, Buddy is taking the car with the remnants of his $11.00 gas purchase to college to meet with his coaches. He wanted to be the first to tell them about his less than stellar summer. A frontal attack is always the best, since they will understand what happened from his perspective. Dad and I are not going. This is his life, not mine. He is bringing his pal, TD. TD just turned 18 last week and I think that I saw a whisker on his face. My, these boys are growing up. Buddy mentioned that he is bringing TD in case he needs someone to push the car up the mountain when the gas runs out. Perhaps he is going to convince TD that he should pay for the gas and in return, Buddy will give him the $11.00 grand tour of his campus. It's like paying for a ticket in London to travel on a double decker bus to see the city or the Hollywood bus tours that you can take to Lucille Ball's and Henry Fonda's houses.

And so it goes...the big kid cannot wait to get back to college life and move into his new digs. No, he is not going to be in a dorm room like BP mom advised. Instead, he is going to be with his 3 pals in an apartment on the edge of town. It has bus service since there is no way that they can walk to their classes or practice. I do not think that this was a well-thought out plan and will watch as his orderly life comes crumbling down around him. He is sharing a room with one of the outfielders. He is also living with the catcher (freshly back from his Hawaii vacation) and his main competition on the squad, another leftie, who receives more innings than Buddy but has poorer stats. This is going to be interesting. The outfielder can catch the snide remarks as they fly through the air. The catcher is in a no win situation as he will be stuck between two pitchers who are competing against each other. Did anyone, I mean anyone think this through? Probably not.

Once again, this is a lesson that he is going to learn on his own. I may want to, but I won't say "I told you so...." Now that we know each other better, he can use that line on me. So, I will keep my lips sealed whenever I see him in public. As one of my favorite songwriter's sings..."It's another day in paradise."

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