Tag: emotions

Goodbye to Baseball season and moving (Literally) on.

Good morning my loves.

I ran out of coffee. I realized it this morning when I was about to make some, and I am due for a trip to the grocery store, but – join me for a bit while I share some things and try to get the motivation to start today.

Baseball season is over for now.

This was Elijah’s first year playing on an actual team, and he loved it.

He had some moments where he’d say he sucks, and I would have to remind him that this is his first year, and every practice – every game – he got better. He started batting balls across the field and making home runs. He started learning when to run and when to stay on a base, and so much more.

He did fantastic this season and gave it his best.

I wasn’t happy that he wasn’t given a turn to pitch because I feel like that’s where his talent is. He’s great at pitching in my opinion, but with this being his first time on a team, I didn’t want to cause any issues and ask the coaches to give him a chance. I thought maybe they would, and I feel like every kid should have had a chance to play every position, so they learn each one and get better at them.

I’m not a coach – so I let them do their thing and just sat back to cheer my little dude on – whatever he was playing on the field.

He was upset because they kept putting him in the outfield, but I told him that during the summer, we’d practice more, and next year if we’re still here – he’d go and shows them his new skills, and maybe someone else will be in the outfield and he’ll be one of their best pitchers or he’ll be on a base. Plus, he’s not the only one I’ve seen in the outfield. There were a few kids out there on repeat.

Still, I am grateful.

I am grateful for the coaches who taught him every new skill he learned and is getting better with, and that they ran to his side to guide him and train him.

I am grateful for his teammates who all cheered each other on, including my son when he was at bat, or running the bases.

These young boys always had each other’s backs and even encouraged each other when one of them would strike out. Their last game the night before last – all the boys were singing, “Let’s go, Elijah! Let’s go!”, over and over. It was the cutest thing.

I am grateful for the Baseball moms and dads who had kids on the team for years now and took me under their wing as the new baseball mom. I fully enjoyed sitting on the bleachers with them every game – talking, laughing, and having some of the funniest or best conversations with them. We always found each other at games, joked around and enjoyed cheering each other’s boys on.

I am grateful for the baseball moms I didn’t talk to, that still cheered for my kid as much as they cheered for theirs every time that he was up to bat or running bases, and I did my best once I became comfortable – to cheer on their boys as well.

I am grateful that Elijah had this opportunity to play for this team, and I am grateful for the group photo he has of all of them, so that even if we move next year and he doesn’t play for this team again – he has the memories of them.

I am going to miss this.

I was joking with a good friend of mine (Ashley) that I am NOT sad it is ending, but as soon as we came home from the last game the night before last, I won’t lie – I was a little bit sad. This is now just good memories. Good times. Ashley was laughing at me and told me, “See! That’s how I feel sometimes. It’s bitter-sweet when it all ends”. She’s in Arkansas and her boys play as well.

I am not going to miss the last-minute scheduling changes, the traveling to other parts of Minnesota for games, the double-headers, sitting in the heat and rain, rushing to get to the field on time for practices, but – I am going to miss these boys getting together to play and watching them all do their thing.

We were supposed to have a double-header today. Today was supposed to be the last game in another part of Minnesota, but for some reason, that was canceled.

I had to laugh when one of the moms I always hung out with at games – said that she is so happy they canceled the Friday game. I told her, “I knnnnnoooooowwwwww! I can’t say I was disappointed, either!”. When another dad showed up for the game the night before last, we were talking about baseball coming to an end, and he smiled and said, “And we have no game on Friday”. He was just as happy, as we laughed and shared that we were kind of happy as well. I had to laugh even more when one of the female coaches and I were talking after the game was over, and she shared that she was happy there was no game Friday. I told her that I wanted to say that, but she said it for me, and she shared that she loves baseball, but at some point – she’s just over it. 🤣

Still, like Ashley said – it is bitter-sweet.

These boys played in all kinds of weather, gave it their all, cheered each other on, encouraged each other, helped one another, and it’s all over now until next year.

A lot of these boys have been playing together since they were much younger on the T-ball teams, so the fact that this was Elijah’s first year, and they welcomed him with open arms – makes me happy. ❤️

We won the last game, and the boys followed the coaches across the way to the Football field – where they had a water balloon fight.

We stopped at the store and brought donuts for the team, so after – they enjoyed those, and helped clean up the field before they left.

As I was standing by the bleachers talking to a few parents about different things, the main coach came over, and we were talking about Baseball and Elijah practicing during the rest of the summer, and about the next season.

He was trying to talk Elijah into joining Football, but my son was uninterested in that. I love Football, so I wanted him to give it a try, but I wasn’t going to force him.

The main coach’s son ran off somewhere and came back with the bat that Elijah has been using all season.

He handed it to Elijah and told him he could keep it. 😊🧢⚾ It was such a sweet moment, and I thought that was so awesome.

During the beginning of the season when I brought the uniform Elijah needed for baseball and got everything together to make sure he had what he needed, I had asked one of the female coaches if he needs his own bat. I planned to go buy him one. I just didn’t want to spend the money if he decided he didn’t like baseball and didn’t want to continue it next year, so I was grateful when she told me no, and said they had more than enough bats there – that he could use.

When I found out how much he enjoyed playing and wanted to return to it next season, I did plan to buy him a bat and I probably still will buy him one he can pick out and enjoy, but I loved when the coach’s son gave him this one that he has now.

To me, it’s a sweet reminder of this entire season, and the experience he had, and I hope he cherishes that bat for the rest of his life, and remembers when he was 9, and started this sport.

No matter where we are next season, and who he plays for or what team – I hope he continues his love for the game and continues to make memories with it as he gets better, and goes on to maybe middle school ball, high school ball, and beyond.

I wish I could say he’s going to play with them again next year, but we’re looking to move, so I can’t say for sure.

Baseball season has ended, and again – it’s bitter-sweet, but I’m grateful for everything.

To my little Elijah – if you see this one day when you get older –

So, now what do we do?

Now that there’s no more schedules, game changes, last minute snack runs, washing his uniform over and over, rushing to the field, etc. – we enjoy the rest of the Summer.

Love you.

😊Shel😊

Voicemails for Isabelle and an old-school (forever will be cherished) radio.

Good morning my darlings.

I’m just sitting here with a bagel and my coffee, and I may go back to bed for an hour, but we’ll see.

Let’s chat.

The day before yesterday, the woman who lives right above me and I – were chatting and she asked if I’ve seen the new Netflix movie:

I told her I have not seen it, but I’d watch it soon and let her know if I liked it or not.

She said she cried within the first 10-15 minutes.

I cried within the first 10-15 minutes.

I watched it last night, and I absolutely loved it!

It was sad. It was funny. It was cute.

It was a movie that shows that even the best things can come out of grief, sadness, anger, etc.

That beautiful things can happen after pain.

The movie focuses on Jill losing her little sister that she’s always been so close to, so she continues to call her sister (Isabelle’s) phone number thinking it’s still connected, and Jill finds comfort in leaving Izzy many voicemails on different days, venting – chatting – and sharing things like she used to when Izzy was alive.

She always feels better after leaving Izzy a message.

She has no idea that the number was disconnected and recycled.

That the number now belongs to some guy’s work phone, (Wes) – and he is listening to all of the messages Jill is leaving Izzy, and hears all of her crazy stories, things that are going on in her life, and things she vents and jokes about – and it makes him smile. It makes him laugh.

He plans to tell her she has the wrong number – not knowing the situation and why she’s leaving these messages or who Izzy is, but he’s intrigued by her and her funny, wild, crazy voicemails, so he doesn’t tell her that number is no longer Izzy’s (whoever Izzy is – because again – he has no idea!).

He lets her keep calling and he keeps listening.

Eventually, he finds a way to get just enough information to look her up on social media, and when he sees her photos and who she is, he finds her attractive, and he’s even more interested in listening to new voicemails from her – for Izzy.

My daughter and I laughed and called him a stalker, but I corrected my daughter and joked that there’s a big difference between creepy stalking and cute stalking. He did some cute stalking. lol. (I’m just being funny, but it was cute that he looked her up and checked her out).

I don’t want to give the whole movie away, but it’s something you should totally watch if you have the time, and I laughed a lot in this movie, but I also cried a lot, especially at the end – when this guy (Wes) asks for a sign, and he gets it. ❤️

It’s definitely a MUST WATCH, and one of my new favorite movies!

My daughter was also laughing when one of Wes’s friends asked, “What is it about her, Wes?”, and he starts listing everything he loves, and says her cheeks are always filled with food – like this “Sexy Chipmunk”. I told my daughter, “See? I’m a Sexy Chipmunk, too!”. I made her laugh even more.

If you want to giggle a bit, I went outside in the middle of the movie last night to move my car to the garage because the weather was calling for tornados in our area (or close by) possibly, and the sky looked awful, so if we had hail, I didn’t need my car damaged.

I had cried right before going outside – because of this movie, so when another woman who lives upstairs but diagonal from my place – was out there and started talking to me about a kitten we always see in the garages, I apologized for the way I looked and told her I was “ugly crying to a movie I was watching”. She laughed and said she’s the same way.

The movie was fantastic, and it helped a lot that the guy who played (Wes) – Nick Robinson – is a hottie. 😊

Listen.

If there was a poster with him (from this scene on it) – it would be framed and hanging above my bed.

I’m just saying! 🤣

I loved the movie.

10/10 – I recommend!

……………………………………………

Other than the movie – check this out.

One of the tenants in the facility I work for – came downstairs last week and asked if I wanted this radio.

It’s totally Vintage.

He said he’s had it since he got married many – many – many years ago.

He’s an older guy that I adore so much, and he’s always joking around, making me laugh and he’s goofy.

He’ll tell you he has a history with crazy women – including his now ex-wife, and he did just that – and that’s why he said he doesn’t want it anymore, but it still works.

I wasn’t going to take it. I didn’t think I had any use for it, but ……………after some thinking, I realized I’d love to have this radio, and I’d cherish it because it came from him. It’s now a sentimental radio for me because I’ve grown close to this old guy, and he’s hilarious.

Even when he’s pissed off and running his mouth on certain days – he still looks at me when he’s going off on people, and we both laugh because that’s just who he is, and he knows I’m not going to stop him.

I tell him to be nice, and sometimes – when I already know he’s going to say something he shouldn’t – I’ll look at him and tell him, “DON’T DO IT!”, and he laughs because he knows I already know what he’s thinking, and what he’s going to say or do.

He’s got a lot of health issues, so my son and I both agreed (because my older son works with me on the weekends) – that if this man ever passes, we’re going to miss the heck out of him. We’re going to be so sad when we lose this guy, and hopefully it won’t happen for many more years, but we know he’s old and brittle.

So, after thinking about what an honor it would be for me to have this man’s old radio that he’s had forever now and no longer wants, I did take it. It does work, and it sounds so clear – but the only issue – is that we don’t have many good radio stations in Minnesota, so I won’t use it now.

Still, I know that if and when we move back to IL. or closer to it, I’ll have many more radio stations and choices, and this radio will look so cute on my kitchen counter, and it will give me something to listen to when I’m cooking or baking. 😊I do need to give it a good scrub down, but I love it!

I remember almost losing this guy at the beginning of this year.

He was really sick, and some of the employees at the facility wanted to go say “Goodbye” to him – so, some went to go see him.

My older son and I – went as well. He wasn’t expected to make it.

When my son and I walked into the hospital room that day, this man couldn’t even keep his eyes open, and he struggled to talk. His breathing was shallow and we thought for sure he wouldn’t make it past that weekend. We were talking to him, and I was holding his hand the entire time – while we just watched him doze in and out, and we sat there quietly some moments – just watching T.V. and watching this man rest.

The facility we work in houses the previously homeless, some Criminals, some addicts, recovering addicts, and alcoholics / recovering alcoholics. He’s one of the alcoholics, and we give what they call “Portions” (little bits of alcohol) followed on a plan – to certain alcoholics avoid their withdrawal symptoms and them getting sick from it.

When we were in the hospital that day, this man (that I’ll call Denny) – suddenly woke up, looked over at my older son and I – and tried saying something. We couldn’t understand him, and he finally yelled, “PORTION!”. We laughed because of course Denny is going to ask for his portion, or for us to sneak him one in, and it just made our night seeing him – even if we didn’t expect him to make it that time.

I laughed and told him, “I can’t believe you just said that!”. He smiled and went back to sleep, only to wake up and ask for a cigarette. I playfully – softly hit his arm and told him, “You’re on Oxygen my dude!”.

Eventually, he fell back asleep and woke up – no longer smiling, trying to talk, or anything.

He was coughing. Struggling to breathe. Nodding in and out of sleep.

I decided to let him rest that night, and told my older son we should go, so he could sleep, but every time I thought he was fully asleep and tried to pull my hand out of his, he squeezed my hand tighter – at one point – shaking his head no and refusing to let us leave.

When we told him we had to go, he looked so sad, and when we got out of that hospital that day, the tears started to fall.

I couldn’t help it. He’s become one of the main people at this facility that we have grown so close to and grown to love dearly, and I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again after we walked out of there, but thankfully – by the Grace of God – he was back in our facility a few weeks later – looking healthier, so much better, and so full of life.

He still comes down to try to get his portion an hour earlier, and we still have to distract him and talk about other things, so he forgets about it until it’s time. We still have to try to get him to eat because if he could live off alcohol, milk and Sardines – he totally would, but I’m so grateful he’s still with us, and that he’s still his hilarious, crazy, wild, no filter – self.

I’m glad I have a piece of his history with me, even though it’s just a radio, but to me – it’s not.

It’s HIS radio, and he decided he wanted to give it to me. 😊

I’ll forever love this thing, and I hope that in the long future – far from now hopefully – when God wants me back – my older son will keep this radio and cherish it forever – maybe put it in his kitchen one day – to remember Denny and to remember me and the way I loved it because it was from one of our favorite tenants.

Ah well.

I guess I should go get my day started, huh?

🌸Shel🌸