Today... for the second year in a row I Managed (coached) a little league team to the semi-championship game.  The team we played was the first place team and they had one loss all year and it was to us.   If nothing else they respected us.  We were the fourth place team.   We held first place for a few weeks after winning eight games in a row but after the Memorial Day break my kids were a bit non-baseball of mind for a bit.  And that's life, they are kids.   So in time we got back in the grove and on track.  We could have finished in 2nd or 3rd place but I needed to line up our pitching staff for a play-off run and we took two loses that we accepted no those terms.

We had no excuses going into the play-offs.  We won the first game and were fortunate enough to win 12-2.  Our pitching staff was full for the next play-off game.  That was today.  If our pitchers had a good day and we got some base-runners in play I knew we'd run the bases and score some runs.  We established a 6-2 lead by the 5th inning.  We had a mighty team chock full of tall eleven year olds on their heels.   We took the wind from their sails and they even stranded runners at third a couple times as our pitching was just getting the job done.   Good pitching stops good hitting.  That was our plan and it was working.  But with the heat and a case of nerves, our third pitcher ... my son walked a couple guys that put runners on first and second.  A great hit over our third baseman's head (a girl that almost made an amazing catch) lead to a ...   more »

A friend sent a poem today to me.  It is written about me I am flattered and stunned.  I'm used to being the one to express eloquently my slanted views of the world with little fanfare other than the private correspondence I receive.

So when someone waxes poetic about me... I'm really honored.  For the sake of privacy I won't name names as I have learned over the past two years not to do that.

This poem comes to me after explaining to my friend that "You are not what you think you are, you are what others think you are."  I'm looking at these words and I know as I've been told by others I'm broken... now I'm being told I'm not so broken...  This paradox is my life.   My problem with the concept of me being broken (in terms of being able to love) is the one I'm wrangling with.   Let us face it world, my children are my life.  From sunrise to sunset.  While I am a great companion and friend and to some I may be a knight (which flatters me beyond belief) I really do think that my time to love has not yet come.   A woman I know going through a divorce e-mailed me earlier today with these words:

Obviously, your history has done a number to your trust (as understandably so).  But your girlfriend still sticks by you then she knows this and obviously accepts it. Whatever you're giving her, she's happy and if she's happy, then what difference does it make if you don't really believe in love? Marriage is all about companionship, helping each other, respect and attraction and those are the things you need everyday.  Everyone's so caught up on being in "love" when, I think, the kindness/respect/partnership is what really makes people ...   more »