And Then We Move Along

Here it is, another Saturday night, and I’m sitting down to write. I realized this morning that I did not write anything for A & I all week, which is poor discipline on my part. Just because there is nothing to write about when you’re sitting in your recliner does not mean there is nothing to write about when you sit down at your laptop to start. So I’ve poured myself a glass of Patron Anejo to sip while I meander along again.

It was another fun week, but exhausting, so here I am staying in again. I went out Tuesday night to see a play, and Thursday night to see a band at a Tiki bar, and last night it was happy hour and then dinner and then several bars, the sort of night where you can either go home at 11:30 PM or 3 AM, but nowhere inbetween. The possibility had been raised of going out tonight to this new club where all the beautiful people seem to be going – you should have seen the girls in the line outside last night – but that sort of thing takes a unique mustering of energy, and I for one don’t have it in me tonight. I enjoy the swanky clubs from time to time, especially if the music is good, but that is not my native scene these days and tonight I do not feel like working up to a visit.

The wife of a close friend of mine gave birth to their first baby this week, a perfect and beautiful daughter. They will be great parents, being exceptionally bright and warm and fun, and she is a lucky girl. I have no doubt that she’ll be a baseball fan soon enough, but that’s beside the point of course, which is that this is one of those moments that makes one pause and step outside one’s mind to appreciate the wonder and mystery of the world. No one’s got it figured out, not even close, but that doesn’t mean we don’t manage to get things right – unquestionably right – from time to time, and I could not be happier for their family.

It’s that time of my life, friends having babies. I was a groomsman in 4 weddings last summer, which probably means more kids coming soon these next few years. It’s got me thinking about the summer. Looking back at the weddings, it’s funny what you remember from the whirlwind. There was a Cubs game that my older brother and I listened to on the radio for a while during one of those pre-wedding lulls when there is not a TV around but leaving the area is out of the question. We were talking about Pat & Ron, and I was describing how some people can’t get into their broadcast because – let’s face it – it’s strange for a color broadcaster not to follow the game all that closely from time to time.

I was saying that sometimes Ron has to ask Pat what happened, and sure enough within about 30 seconds Ron asked Pat how Corey Patterson got on base. Of course, with CP he had every right to be surprised, but that’s neither here nor there. We got a great laugh out of Pat’s answer, filling in for Ron the way the inning had shaped up with that way of his -- without ever sounding tired or bothered -- and I concluded that with Ron Santo the broadcaster, either you get it or you don’t, and I like him just fine the way he is. I cannot remember whether the Cubs won, and I only heard a couple of the early innings, but I remember that scene.

I like to pause on the walking bridge at the end of my runs. I run a few miles a few times a week around Town Lake near my apartment, and there is a walking bridge across the lake underneath the Mopac highway. I usually think while I run, sometimes too much, and so it helps to force myself to stop thinking and look at the scene west down the lake into the hills, to take a moment to burn the image in my memory because there is no guarantee that times will be as good as they are right now. It’s important to me not to take my situation for granted.

People say that life is short, and what they mean is that it goes quickly. I go back and forth on whether I agree. I mean, the pace of life is certainly quick, but on the other hand so much changes in the period of just a year that we can look back and hardly recognize our lives. I suppose all we can do is to pause and take stock from time to time, and the birth of my friend’s daughter a thousand miles away reminded me of this. A deep breath, an image burned into our memory, and then we move along, into the future where things will be different.

Baseball will start soon enough. I’m anxious, but there are things to do and moments to enjoy in the meantime. And I’m still excited for season. I expect better lineups, better pitching and better managing. But, it’s all still vague and in the distance. Which is fine. Opening day would not be so grand if the lull were not so long.