Tuesday's With Bryan

Well it is official I am an old man. This morning the boy and I got up and left for an appointment. It was Freshman registration time at the High School. He got his ID photo taken, signed up for a yearbook and bought season tickets to the football games (for us to watch him at marching band). He stopped and talked to a dozen or so people and then I left for work. A new stage of life is upon us. I hope we can all survive!

Yesterday was also a bad/good day for the boy. He was dropped off at Band Camp by Grandma and then she got a call from him saying come pick me up there is no spot for me this year. My mother drove over in 5 minutes flat walked into the band room where the 2 directors were speaking. She pointed at the one not talking and gave him the come here motion. She was told that because he missed the first week of camp (which they knew about because of Philmont) they wrote him out and he no longer had a spot. But please come back next year. She wouldn't leave and then talked to the head director. For 30 minutes they talked behind closed doors and then we they came out he had a spot. Band Nazis. He has a spot and has to learn a new instrument but I am still hot about it. He left me a voice mail (I was doing the news) and you could hear the heartbreak when he said he was calling Granny to come pick him up. Thank God my mother was there, I would have went through the roof and he would have be banned for life when I was done with them. She kept a cool head and explained the WHOLE family is already involved doing Fundraising and Water duty, etc. He gave up Fall Baseball for this and that is the way they treat a 2nd year Band member WHO WANTS TO BE THERE!!!!! The thing that gets me is the fact that the head director is an EAGLE SCOUT and when we told him the boy was going to Philmont he said enjoy, it is a once in a lifetime chance, there will be a spot here when you get back.

All is fine in the end but man I am still pissed!!!

Tuesday's With Bryan

The summer is flying by. The boy is only here 2 more days then he is off on another adventure. He is having a great summer and is growing up very fast. Pretty soon he will be in High School. What a wonderful trip this has been so far and we look forward to many more years of it being such!!!

The house is a mess, the lawn needs mowing and I have no motivation to do anything about either!!! I do keep the downstairs clean so we can have guests but even that is becoming a chore to do. I have a few meetings this week and was just told that I have to work the AM shift on Thursday, the day the boy leaves. I am not happy but there is nothing I can do about it. That is the way the wheel turns...

Tuesday's With Bryan

Welcome back...

Quick Hits:
The boy took a bat to the head yesterday at practice. It was a swing stick bat but it did put a nice slice in the scalp that did bleed for awhile. He seems fine but will have a small scar on the head. It wouldn't be baseball season without him getting whacked.

The neighbor is building the fence I knocked over. I bought wood for it last week and was out there getting ready when the boyfriend came over and said he wanted cedar instead of the pressure treated I had. I figured sure, I knocked it down I will replace it. He then said I could just buy the wood and he would build it "his way". Even better for me. He's a little weird, wouldn't figure my neighbor falling for someone like him...oh well to each their own.

Book Report: Just finished The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn yesterday. For those not in the know it is the story of Mr. Kahn and his life with the Brooklyn Dodgers. As a boy in Brooklyn he grew up within shouting distant of Ebbett's Field. Then as a young man he was a sports writer that covered the Dodgers and then as an older man he went back to visit the heroes of his youth. These were the Dodgers of Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Carl Erskine, et al. It is incredible to see the dynamic between players and writers at that time. Then to see what the "Best Team in Baseball", a team that dominated baseball for a decade, broke the color barrier and won a World Series; becomes after20 years. All were out of baseball (except Gil Hodges) and all were working hard to make ends meet. People forget that the players of yesteryear were paid nothing and had no fall back or had the free agent option. It is a fantastic look at one of the greatest teams in baseball history and what they put up with as the first integrated baseball team. I highly recommend it! Check out my Book Page at Ex Libris...