Life of Letter 10
marketing, design, travel, and my thoughtsArchive for mlb
Goodbye 2011…Happy New Year!
Well here we are…another year is going by. 2011 was kind of a hangover year for me. Still stuck in the shock of dealing with the loss of my son but we closed out the year with the excitement of Kami’s pregnancy with our second son, Ian. It has been a great second half of the year watching him grow on an ultrasound screen and letting myself hope and dream of sharing life with him come spring time. It has taken me a lot to get my head back around to the positive but I think I am there. Many thanks to wonderful friends for the support and encouragement along the way!
So in 2011 I also took a leap into a new career. Not a vastly different area from where I was for the previous 9 years and 11 months, but something new. I say vastly different mainly because it is still in the realm of marketing but it certainly is a different world than associations. I started at Pineapple Advertising a year ago in April and it has been somewhat of a whirlwind learning the style of a new company and figuring out where I fit in and how I can use my talents for this company. I still have my hands in some aspects of the association so I am not completely removed.
Until we found out Kami was pregnant again that was pretty much the highlight of our year. Kami is still happy in her nursing career, the pool was a nice addition to our summer and we remain on the hunt for a great deal on travel to a new beach (while that will certainly get more difficult, it will still be there). 2011 was the year Kami and I celebrated 10 years of marriage…she won the gift war when she surprised me with tickets to the Major League Baseball All-Star game in Phoenix. We had a wonderful time (thanks Mary!) and shortly after returning we learned of our greatest surprise, Ian. Of course at that time we didn’t know it was another boy, but that didn’t matter.
Now we just wait for the next week so we can get another glimpse of our son on that black and white screen to see him move, his heart beat and see how much he has grown. I know…seems like kind of a boring year. Well I hope that 2012 will more exciting and laughter filled than either of us can imagine.
So that is enough about that…hope that everyone has a great New Year celebration. Be safe and make the most of everyday in 2012!
MLB All-Star Game…great trip!
So I am behind on blogging…for sure. I get so busy and then my thoughts slip my mind. My wife had a great post about our recent trip to the All-Star Game on her blog (onpinsandneedles.net) and I wanted to share my thoughts as well.
I was so surprised when Kami told me that she had gotten me tickets to the All-Star game as a gift for our 10th anniversary. She totally kicked my butt at anniversary gifts this year…hands down. Baseball has always meant more to me than just a sport. It was always something my family did together, whether one of us was playing or we were attending it was the one thing we all got together around. I remember growing up and going to college and high school games, playing in hundreds of games and now going back with my wife, my father, my brother or all of us together. One of the last things Kami and I did while she was pregnant with our son Lukas was go to Chicago and catch a Cubs game. We had a great time and enjoyed the game and the city. That long weekend in Chicago has changed how baseball games affect me more than I realized before last week.
Don’t get me wrong…I still love baseball. The strategy, the atmosphere, the game are still excite me and I can watch games pretty much nonstop. The one thing that gets me now is that I see so many fathers with their sons enjoying the games. They are eating hot dogs, wearing their gloves, talking about the game and hoping for a foul ball. They support the same teams and players and cheer together the successes. They are making memories. I know that I will never get to make those memories with my son. I have accepted it. It just changes my perspective. I was able to make those memories with my father and I have great ones…I had no idea that baseball could become such a source for longing.
Kami and I had a great time together…we loved the opportunity to just get a way for a few days, be around people we don’t know and will most likely never see again. It is amazing to me how much that alone can help. The game and all the festivities surrounding it were spectacular and it was an all around great trip. I am so glad I was able to spend it with my wife and I am so thankful that she has grown to like baseball as well. We saw some great entertainment from Cee Lo Green and Jordan Sparks and we were fortunate enough to be able to attend several VIP events that MLB puts on and they are always a great time…they really know how to throw a party! Phoenix was a great city to host the events and Tempe was a great place to stay. It is easy to get around and believe it or not it was actually cooler in Arizona than it was back home in Tulsa during that week! It was still hot, but you know…its a dry heat there. I have to say Chase Field was a great ballpark, the air conditioned stadium was the perfect place to watch a game in the desert. Our seats were great and while All-Star games are not always the best game it is still fun to watch the games best perform.
