My Three Hours of Fortune and Fame

It started a couple of months ago...my mom and dad were at a PHS benefit night participating in an auction to raise money that would help pay my mom’s salary.  A season ticket holder had donated two pairs of tickets located (or so everyone thought) right by the Padres’ dugout.  These were tickets my mom, and any baseball fan would love to have, the kind that normal people can’t buy because you have to belong to the Lexus Club which has a $20,000 membership fee.  My mom was happy to bid for them, but was reluctant to spend too much money.  My dad, however, got completely swept up in the moment and ended up bidding over their budget (“it’s for a good cause,” he insisted).   When they won my dad offered up his ticket to me, saying I’d appreciate them even more (baseball-love has typically run in the female line in my family).  So Mom and I booked the date on the calendar and looked forward to getting to sit in prime seats.  We were excited, but had no idea how exciting the experience would actually be...

July 13, 2013 will now be officially part of San Diego’s and San Francisco's baseball history (more on that later) and will be a day my mom and I will always remember.  Now, if you’ve read my blog before, you’ll know that I’ve been lucky enough to go to many Padres games in my lifetime.  Usually getting there is a bit rough, because you have to find parking, then travel up aways to your seat, crawl over strangers, that kind of thing.  In the Lexus Club you get to park where the players park--right by the field--and you get to enter your own personal clubhouse not long after getting through the gates.  

As soon as you walk through that door, everything is remarkably different than any other seat in the house.  Everything is fancy, ornate, decadent.  The first place we went was to the free buffet (we didn’t know about the free food and almost had BBQ before going in--good thing we didn’t!) where they serve lobster, sirloin, sushi, fancy cheeses, stylish salads, all kinds of things that neither Mom nor I could name.  It struck me that some people eat like this all the time, but that I prefer my more mundane food in the end.  For us, the best part of the dining room was not the food at all, but the view.  Along one wall were a few long windows with one-way glass where the Padres players take personal batting practice before and during the game.  When we walked in we saw Will Venable taking some swings.  It was a little sad that some people there didn’t know who he was (you paid this much money not to even know anything about the team?).  Later on we saw Quentin and Cabrera too.  So cool.  

After leaving the dining room we went into another room with even more free food.  Here was a large buffet with more classic ballpark foods like hot dogs, nachos, pizza, etc.  There was also a huge dessert are and an ice cream bar.  All of that food was available all game long.  You could either get it yourself, or have a server bring it to you. Mom and I had a laugh about the free drinks.  She had brought in her own water bottles because she hates paying for water places and we truly did not know about all the free stuff.  

Just before the game started we walked to our seats.  Remember we thought they were going to be by the dugout.  We had no idea that we had seats right behind home plate, truly the best seats in the whole stadium.  That was the moment we also realized we would be on TV for the next three hours.

It would take pages to explain all that happened in the game and how incredible it was to see some of the world’s best baseball players swinging a bat only twenty feet from where we sat.  It’s also really hard to explain what it feels like knowing that you are on TV.  We were very conscious of what we were doing.  So we didn’t eat when a batter was up, and we didn’t leave our seats (because we didn’t want the world to see our rear-ends).  We tried to smile and not flinch at foul balls.  We sent texts and posted pictures and waved upon request to a few people (all of those things, it turns out, we weren’t supposed to do--but no one told us until very late in the game) and for nine straight innings marveled at how incredible the seats were.  And on every pitch, there we were, right in front of the cameras (we looked at tapes of the game afterwards to confirm our visibility)

About half-way through the game when the Padres were losing by a significant amount, Mom and I went to get dessert.  The only other person there was none other than Dave Winfield, a Padres Hall of Fame player from many years again.  Since it was just the three of us we had a little conversation.  He towers over us, but is very friendly and polite.  He told us to go to his website, www.davewinfieldhof.com, so I suppose he must not mind people shaking his hand. :>) When we sat back down we looked up at the Padres outfield scoreboard where they have big signs with all the retired numbers, we marveled that after meeting number 31 we’ve now met 4 of the 5 Padres players whose numbers have been retired (Tony Gwynn, Randy Jones, Trevor Hoffman we’ve met--Steve Garvey we haven’t).  How awesome is that!!!

In the end Padres fans did not have much to root for, which didn’t faze the crowd much since they seemed to be all Giants fans anyway, but as the game grew later it became more and more likely that the Giants might be in for a historic night.  On the mound for them that night was Tim Lincecum, who has won the Cy Young award twice and been a key player on both of San Francisco’s championship teams.  If you don’t know baseball, you’ll have to take my word for it that Lincecum is a very, very good pitcher.  And on this night he put up one of his very best games throwing his first ever Major League no-hitter--the first no-hitter ever thrown at Petco park.  So even though my Padres lost 9-0, I got to see a Cy Young award winner throw a no-hitter.  And not only was a there, but I was so close.  I truly saw all of those pitches.  I saw his reactions and every detail of his wind-up (how can someone so small throw so hard?).  I saw his catcher, Buster Posey (just as cute in person, by the way), carefully guide him towards out after out and then throw him in the air after the last pitch.  Some day Tim Lincecum might go to the Hall of Fame, and part of his stats will be his no-hitter that I got to see. What an amazing night!!!      

Summer Magic

Summer

July 1, 2013

I’m sitting outside right now with a laptop on my lap (oh how I wish I had a smaller, faster one--but I digress) watching my boys play.  Aaron’s mouth is stained blue from a popsicle he just ate.  Ethan’s brows are furrowed in concentration has he busily plans the outdoor “mall” he’s creating in our yard.  Watching them makes me think, “there really is something magical about summer.”

I love all the usual things of summer: barbecues, pool parties, baseball, watermelon, beach trips, staying up late, reading books hours at a time.  The magic of summer goes beyond those things though.  I think it’s about getting to say “yes” more often.  During the school year when my boys ask me questions too often the answer is in the realm of “not tonight, Honey” or “I’m so tired right now.”  I try really hard to finish my day early so that I can be a focused, fun mother, but still the rigors of being a working mom during the school year wear me out and push aside some of my kids’ most creative fancies.  During the summer, though, I can give into their pleas more readily.  “Can we put up a tent today?” Sure, why not?  “Can we go get some ice cream?” That sounds really good.  “Can I play out in the mud?”  No problem, we’ll just have baths before dinner.  Being a Yes Mom can be very satisfying.

When I look back at summers of my childhood I realize another part of the magic: summer is for spending time with different people, in a fun, clubhouse sort of way.  Since so many of my summer weekends were spent at softball tournaments, my teammates became my best (and only?) friends during those three months.  When not on the field we spent so much time swimming, taking breaks only for mac n’ cheese with hot dogs, and then jumping back in again (well, after waiting the thirty minutes our parents insisted on).  We went to Padres games sometimes and watched baseball movies on TV.  When the school year started up again we’d all go our different ways into different schools and different grades, but in the summer we really were queens of the diamonds and best friends in between games. I also spent lots of time with my neighbors and with my cousins, and with my sister (I suppose my parents were there too), and am glad that we had such a safe neighborhood to play in.

My boys are too young to have dedicated teammates, and unfortunately don’t have many other kids in their neighborhood, but they do have their cousins.  This summer the four Worthen boys are spending lots of time together doing some preschool lessons and lots of outdoor fun.  Having all four of them at once is completely exhausting, but also really neat to see.  They are getting to form their first real close relationships with people outside their immediate families.  They are learning how to play together and make compromises, and to avoid too much trouble.  They are having a Phineas and Ferb summer, with exciting adventures every day.  The Worthen boys may not remember the specifics of this summer when they grow up, but I really think the magic of this summer will help them in their regular lives, and will make a positive impact on their minds and on their views towards summer.  

Perhaps the magic of summer also includes work as well as play.  Despite what people presume, many teachers really do spend a lot of time working on their unpaid vacations.  I tend to really enjoy my summer work as it gives me a chance to be creative and to try new things.  It’s also satisfying to know that the more I get done in the summer, the less I’ll have to do in overtime hours during this school year.  I like watching my kids do summer work too like chores and reading and art projects.  It’s good to feel successful and summer is the perfect time to check some things off the list.  

Alas it is time to sign off.  Everything in the mall has been bought, Daddy’s cookies have been devoured, and now the boys want to play baseball.  I’m biased of course but I think my little one might just end up being a decent pitcher (his arm really is good for a two-year-old) and the big one is really starting to hit hard.  They aren’t yet old enough to play sports by themselves, and really, why would I want to miss out on this anyway?