My Dad

I've found myself thinking a lot about my dad recently (in the past year or so). In my Creative Non-Fiction class, I wrote a piece about him that, last I read it, I really liked, though I would like to add some things to it and work on it some more. Just a couple weeks ago I was struck with the need/desire to write a little poem focusing on my dad (which I will post a draft of below). And just the other night, I found myself thinking back to the summer of 2007, and how I wish I had done some things differently.

The thing that sticks out most in my mind is the last time I saw him. Anna, Kirsten, and I visited him at Georgetown Hospital. It was the day before I was leaving for Leadership Academy in Bethany, WV. Carl greeted us as we came to the floor he was on and was clearly agitated. I know he talked to us, but I can't remember anything of what he said. Then we went in to Dad's room. He looked bad and he was complaining about the doctors and how everyone working there were a bunch of idiots. I didn't say much. I told him I loved him, and hugged him on his bed, then I left the room. I don't think I was in there for more than a few minutes.

I don't know why that was. Looking back, I can see he was clearly scared. He knew what was happening and I feel like I didn't do enough to assure him that I loved him, that I forgave him for all his faults, that I was still proud of all the things he had taught me, and that he would always be my Dad. I wish I could have apologized for being intimidated by his problems, for avoiding him, for not spending enough time with him when no one else would.

Looking back, I feel like I dismissed the seriousness of the visit. I knew very well that he would probably never walk out of that hospital, but yet, I didn't spend much time with him when I was given one last chance to. And I don't know why.

He died the next morning, probably while I was in the air from D.C. to Pittsburgh. I got a call from Carl while I was on the bus from Pittsburgh to Bethany. It wasn't a shock, but it still wasn't pleasant. I felt so alone in that week.

A Father Son Sport

My father taught me the game
before I wore real pants.
A drainspout was home
backyard corners bases
and every hit a full lap.

My father whispered at my door
inning by inning updates.
I heard his tears
as he described a child like me
Robbing a city's dream.

My father called for clearance
before visiting the house
The basement my remains of home,
one of many rooms
With a glove long outgrown.

My father suddenly called often
to my home away from home.
As he always had
he awaited the heat
ending school and beginning.

My father died that summer
when LOVE was reintroduced.
Why did I rekindle an old flame
and never bring him
to one last game?

Bloody Hell, We're in Canada!

So, this past weekend we did Insane Roadtrip 2009, take 2. Around 10:30pm on Friday, Dylan, Katie, Cory, Kirsten and I left Blacksburg bound for Milwaukee via Chicago. Dylan drove through West Virginia and Kentucky, pointing out to me (the only conscious one at the time) places he knew, where he lived, and so on. About 20 miles into Indiana, I took over and drove for a couple hours until we were a bit North of Indianapolis and had to stop for gas. I bought gas and then got to pass out in the back for a couple hours as dawn broke and Katie drove us into Chicago.

We parked downtown after a brief journey through the rougher South-side of Chicago thanks to some faulty direction by yours truly. Little sidenote, the garage we parked in happens to be the one used in the opening scene of Dark Knight. Just so you know... moving on. After we parked we walked down towards Lake Michigan and through Millennium Park. From there we went wandering for some Pizza. There's a chain of places called Giordano's, and Kirst and Cory wanted to check that place out since it bears the same name as a family friend. We made our way toward the closest one that showed up on my GPS to learn that it was no longer in that location.

So we made our way back to a different pizza place we had passed that looked pretty good: Pizzano's. We got a sausage, green pepper and buttercrust pizza. It was pretty fantastic. There wasn't as much sauce as there was on the pizza from D'agostino's, which I actually liked: It allowed me to taste the really good sausage and the crust, which was delicious.

After lunch, we made our way out of the city (which was remarkably less painful than last time), and headed for Milwaukee, WI. I napped a bit more on the way up. We proceeded to get slightly lost in first a rich neighborhood, then a very poor one. Eventually we made our way toward the stadium and stopped at a Best Western a few blocks away. We got an executive suite for $140, which was pretty sweet (no pun intended). We relaxed for a while and then walked over to the game.

It was kind of weird at first to be going to a baseball game indoors. However, the atmosphere was incredible. It was just very fun and family friendly. The food was good and relatively cheap ($4.50 for a sausage of any sort you could desire). The game was a lot of fun, there were plenty of little things to keep fans involved. All in all I had a great time, and it was undoubtedly my favorite ballpark of the few I've been to.

After the game, we made our way back to the hotel and promptly zonked out. It added a bit to our trip cost (about $30 a person), but it definitely helped with our sanity and general health. We could have gotten a hotel for much cheaper outside the city, but the convenience was invaluable, and the room was nice.

The next morning we checked out around 9:30 and jumped back in the truck and headed back to Chicago. Sadly, we were unable to take the time to go by the custard place that we had planned to visit. That's my only real regret from this trip. As crazy as it sounds though, I think I'd be willing to go back to Milwaukee. The city seemed really nice from the little I saw of it, and I really enjoyed the Brewers game.

We got off the highway right on to West Addison and parked about a mile and a half from the park. We took a shuttle that was included in our $6 parking that took us right to Wrigley. We took our touristy pictures and went shopping for hats for everyone.

Foolishly, when we parked, we left our sweaters and jackets because it was sunny and we were warm. When we got to our seats, we were decidedly chilly. We were up high, and in the shade. Game-time temperature was 58 degrees. I had never been so cold in August.

Regardless though, I think we all had a pretty good time (though Kirsten and Katie had to buy sweatshirts to do so, and I think Dylan might have been on the verge of hypothermia). The Italian beef sandwiches were quite good. This time I also got a Chicago-dog, which included nacho cheese and hot peppers on a very large hot-dog on a poppy-seed bun. Delicious.

After the game, we decided to walk back to the cars and get a to-go pizza from Dags on the way. Thus, we walked about a mile with a quite heavy pizza before eating it in the bed of Dylan's truck. I love Chicago pizza, but I think I gained ten pounds this weekend.

After that it was a long drive home, which didn't end until 6:30 am on Monday. Just a bit painful on my first day of classes. But, that said, I had a great time, and I think everyone else did as well. Sorry that this was a bit superficial, but I didn't want to write a novel... yet... about this.

All the best to you and yours,

-TES

Insidious Readings and Honeymoon Plans

I know I haven't updated in ages, and I apologize. I'm sorry. Now, I'm pretty sure I'm only apologizing to maybe one person who is still reading this. Anyway... moving on.

A few months back I had a book suggested to me called The Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris. I bought myself a copy and read through it. Let me tell you, it has made me think about my future very seriously and whether I really want to pursue a career, particularly in an office environment. Ferris talks about the ways he was able to create his own successful online business, and then put it on auto-pilot to allow him to have the freedom to do whatever he wanted, including traveling the world, learning half a dozen languages, and dozens of other things that he felt like doing at the time.

This freedom is undeniably appealing, and with his guidance, starting my own business doesn't seem insurmountable. My biggest obstacle is having $500-$1000 to start it up and put on the line to determine feasibility and basic start-ups. It's actually less than I would though, but, right now, certainly more than I can afford to lose, partly because of my plans for next summer.

Next summer, after the wedding, we would like to take a Mediterranean cruise from Venice through some Greek islands and back to Venice. The obvious problem is that we're both poor college students and it will cost us about $6,000 to do this, which we don't have. But we're both bound and determined to raise another $4,000 to do so.

In addition, I recently came up with an idea that could allow us to fulfill our goal of seeing a game in each MLB stadium. I think we can get a book deal to publish a book about our trip and experiences. Another aspect is that, if we were to do this next summer, we would have to make the entire trip in about 4-6 weeks. I think it would be tough, but not impossible. That said, we need to get to work on finding out how to contact publishers and see if they would go for the idea, and if they did, if they would cover most or all of the actual expenses of the trip. If not, we really couldn't do it.

Right now, I need to get ready for my third-to-last day of work at Bookholders... and by get ready I mean put on clothes and walk out the door... in the next 10 minutes.

All the best to you and yours,

-TES