The Boys of Summer are back!! :0)

This past week ushered in one of my favorite times of year….BASEBALL SEASON!

We are HUGE Astros supporters!  Win or lose, we are behind our team and always have been! (I know they haven’t started this year off with the greatest record, but that’s ok…they won today!!!) :0)

 

I love love love Baseball season.  Growing up, Baseball was always a huge part of our family.  Every summer from the time I was 12, our vacations centered around All-Star trips for my brother (and me!)!  That summer usually ended with a family vacation to Houston, Tx. where we visited Astro World and usually a few Astros games! You would think by that point, we’d have had enough of Baseball! Hah!

We’ve spent countless hours at Minute Maid Park/The Astrodome…

…and we’ve spent countless hours waiting outside after the games for autographs back in the day!  It paid off, though!  I got Jeff Bagwell’s autograph twice and Craig Biggio’s once!! :0)

Friends after the game…

 

We took this one just to be silly!! :0)

 

This one particular trip, I set up a tour of Minute Maid Park and we were able to visit the Astros dugout!  It was really neat! (I’m lucky I married a man that likes Baseball as much as I do!)

My husband the goof ball! Haha!

One of my favorite pictures from an Astros game! :0)

Totally different team, I know…but this is me at a Rangers Game back in High School (aren’t those sandals rockin it?!)!  The only professional baseball parks I’ve ever been to are Minute Maid Park and the Ballpark in Arlington.  I was hoping for a Seattle Mariners game in the Fall but they are going to be out of town! :0(

Rewinding back to high school and baseball, I came across something that I had in my Xanga (hah!) back in 2004.  My brother’s Dixie Majors Baseball team won the Louisiana State Championship that year (finally..after YEARS of making it to State) and they played in the Dixie Majors World Series representing Louisiana!

The opening ceremonies were exciting and everyone couldn’t wait for the games to begin.  The speaker read something that has stuck with me every since!

"I've always wanted to travel and see the world. It's been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. Who only knew that my "world" would be full of green grass, red dirt, and wooden bleachers?

It consists of small towns on back roads in places that I've never even heard of. I've traveled Interstate 20 from Louisiana to Mississippi, Alabama, all the way through where it dead ends in South Carolina. I've seen campuses, city parks, and fields that are hidden in the deep woods of Tennessee, the grand stadiums of Texas, and the soggy fields of Louisiana and Florida.

The World I've seen is where friendships and lifelong memories are made. Mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, bonding together to assist a team.

... the designs and orchestrations of practical gadgets of cups, fans, t-shirts, visors, door signs, buttons, yard signs, and hats.

... the meetings of schedules, the exchanging of cell phone numbers, rendezvous through uniform pickups, and the zillions of trips to Wal-mart for drinks, snacks, sun screen, mosquito repellent, and the daily supply of bandages, ointments, towels, Advil, and cold creams.

I've also seen teams say, "How do we"? ... How do we walk in as a team ... our appearance, our form? The sound of our cleats scraping on the concrete announcing that we are here.

... Taking infield ... our rallies, our cheers, or resolve, our strengths, our weaknesses, our personalities, our determination, our sportsmanship, the butterflies, words mumbled, words forgotten.

... Slides, double plays, safe at home, over the fence, heat and ice ... our voices are silenced.

It's the silent prayers, the knots in the stomach, the tightness in our chest ... and the need to just breathe. It's the turning of your head and hiding your eyes because you just can't look.

... It's the good luck charms, the locks of hair, hidden pennies, the lucky underwear, it's the magic, it's the mojo, it's the prayer.

The rubdowns of strained and pulled muscles, hot towels, ice packs, arm wraps, and gels and creams.

... Dirty uniforms, stubborn red dirt, tons of quarters, the pinning of socks, coat hangers, jerseys, missing socks, and trying to get those white pants white once again!

It's the card games, the curfews, and flashlights. Parents armed with duct tape, sitting on the floor of the hotel hallway, guarding players doors at three o'clock in the morning ... whispering, and listening, and sharing stories.

It's the coaches .... you either love them or you hate them. It's the things that are not fair ... It's bad judgments, favorite players, unnoticed good plays, and bad plays that are remembered for a lifetime.

... Fair umps, bad umps, and lucky calls.

The smell of fresh cut grass, the sunny skies, and the distant sound of rolling thunder. Light drizzles, torrential rains ... delays, games starting at 1:00 in the morning ... delirious and giddy.

The excitement in the air, the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd.

It's about summer, friendships, and memories we'll remember forever ... we've all had the time of our lives.

It's called baseball.

It's the Dixie World Series.

I love this game."

Ah yes, the memories…..my summers were always filled with Baseball and I loved it. I wouldn’t have had it any other way! :0)

The Boys of Summer are back, indeed!