Howdy,
Well, today would’ve been the day, the evening, I would have hit the road for Scottsdale, AZ.
Spring training trip.
A buddy or two, a caffeinated beverage (or two), and baseball on the brain.
(“A buddy or two” can also mean five of us crammed in a Corolla. Good times! Hey, we’ve kept going back!)
A drive through the night. A miserable, gritty-eyed morning squinting against the beauty of a glorious sunrise on I-10 E Fwy, stuck with Thursday-morning workers in Phoenix rush hour traffic, rolling into town slowly after the higher speeds of overnight, open-desert driving. For a beautiful day of baseball.
Beautiful days of baseball.
March Madness basketball on surrounding televisions all weekend long when inside recovering from the heat of 3, 4, 5 hours out at the yard: catching BP homers or live foul balls for souvenirs.
True story. Last year we got like seven baseballs in three games. Actually in two games because in one we came up empty.
Yes, I’d be on the road right now, maybe pulling into a gas station with our first empty gas tank. Looking for a Snicker’s in the snack aisle.
But I hadn’t hit a great consistency in the rehab exercises routine … so my back wasn’t in great shape either. Didn’t feel it was up for the trip. I could be locked up in my seat struggling to get out at that gas station, or out for a short walk to stretch my lower back but with serious doubts about getting into the car again for another eight or nine hours …
Humbling, but motivation and encouragement for working to regain strength, to build it back up, to make next year’s trip.
Hoping my friend still has a blast and enjoys the baseball and spring training sunshine, as I’m sure he will. I’d definitely put my money on him snagging a hardball headed into a crowd.
On the bright side here, I’ll be in town tomorrow for celebrating Matt’s birthday. Happy (About) Birthday, Matt!
—Billy
Reading. Writing. Living.
P.S. I feel like I’ve been writing more than I have the last couple of days, because I’ve been doing a lot of communicating, but, unfortunately, when it comes to word count, most of my words yesterday and today have gone into texts and emails. So much so that’s it’s tempting to collect ‘em and count ‘em. But I think I’ll refrain. If I can resist the temptation.
Also, Go Giants!
Word Count: 76,292 / On Pace: 86,350 / Year’s Goal: 200,000
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