I received an email toward the end of the week from the the registrar's office at the university from which I recently graduated. "Hey, Aubrey, we just wanted to let you know that we have received your final grades and you did, in fact, meet the requirements for your degree, so we submitted an order for your diploma to be printed."
Hey, guys...thanks! Graduation was a couple of weeks ago, so that would've sucked if it hadn't gone well. Insert all the eye rolls here.
So, remember that weird feeling I had? Well...it was entirely accurate, and it did, in fact, suck. Such is life, I suppose. I don't think it had as much of a negative impact on me as I expected, and this is due (in part) to my being a stubborn ass. At the risk of sounding cryptic (which is usually one of my favorite things), just because any number of scenarios don't work out at a given time, it does not mean that they never will...just not right now. And, oddly enough, I was totally good with that, and so was my brain. It still thinks nonstop, but it's tolerable. Sort of.
Last week, I pulled N out of school midday on Wednesday to take him to meet his father to go the afternoon Rangers game, the last game of the Angels/Rangers series at the Ballpark in Arlington. He had no idea it was happening, so he was confused (and pissed) when he got to the office. After I repeatedly told him nobody died (he was really suspicious because I don't ever let him skip school...for ANY reason, let alone to go to a baseball game), he was kind of okay with it, and even more okay with it when I assured him I wasn't going to the game with them. The Rangers won (yay!), but the game went longer than expected, so he started stressing out over whether or not he would make it to his own doubleheader that night. I suggested he change in the car to save time, and he hated that idea. BUT, when his dad got him to the ballfields with 20 minutes to spare, he climbed out of the car (fully dressed in baseball attire) with a hateful look on his face. THEN I passed him a bag with two sets of batting gloves in it (because his disintegrated in my hand as I put his stuff together to send with him), and I bet you wouldn't believe that both of them were totally wrong.
Then the zipper on his baseball pants and broken, and how could I not possibly just jump in my car and drive home to get him a new pair? Because I am not a slave, nor would it be worth my time, thank you very much. Luckily, a super mom had a safety pin, and after he got over himself (and attempted to close the pants unsuccessfully), I secured the pants and...between games...I also secured an apology from my kid, who admitted that he was pissed at the situation and taking it out on me, not actually pissed at me.
Yeah. I know!
I wound up taking a call for a sub job that night, so the next morning I got up to teach middle school math. I would've declined, but I knew I had at least one or two baseball boys during my day, so I went for it! It was also "Red Nose Day" AND "Dress like you're on vacation" day, so I got to wear jeans and a t-shirt and a BASEBALL CAP! It was the best! The day didn't suck either, so I took it as a good omen.
Friday, it poured, and that matched my mood, but my mood was considerably lightened when I found out that the baseball tournament was still on! Man, I love baseball...and I love watching this team play. It's probably one of my favorite things. On Saturday, I gave two of the boys a ride to the field they were playing on, and I'm pretty sure we laughed the whole way there...all of us, N included. They split their games that night, although they should have won both, but they played well. In the second game (it was close to 11 when they finished), N did a Pete Rose slide into second after smashing the ball to the left field fence. He started to slide about halfway between first and second, and when he got up on second (he was safe), he was covered in red dirt...from his chin to his ankles, and made no move to dust any of it off. I don't even know where those pants are at this moment, but I know they're still covered in dirt.
I woke up to thunder and a downpour a little before 5:00 am on Sunday, but jumped out of bed when I got an email saying the tournament was still on...just on an hour delay. This director is my favorite tournament director ever. He sends out emails and makes things happen and sends out more emails. I jokingly told one of the dads that I have an email crush on the director...and he said he might have one on him, too! I got a text from one of the dad's asking if we wanted breakfast, and a little while later, Einstein Bros. bagels and coffee were delivered to my front door! What a way to start the day! I picked up my favorite panda bear en route to the ballfields, and watched some of the best baseball they have played. They beat the team that beat them the night before...no, they didn't just beat them. They decimated them! The poor guys were from Lubbock, so it was quite a way to drive to get kicked out in the first round. N smashed a ball over the left field fence...just two feet foul. It would've been an amazing three run homer! Since they won that game, they didn't have to play again until much later that evening, so everyone went home to shower or nap or play Xbox (my kid). When we got back out there, there was a delay because a game went way over (our age group was only playing on one field), so the game that was about to end was the game BEFORE the game before our next game. Yikes!
Then it started lightning, so they shut the thing down for the storm to pass. Long story short, everyone was drenched. All the stuff was drenched. Everyone left. We went home, changed clothes, and then took one of the other players home and stayed there for dinner, fun, and conversation. The bracket was re-released for Monday play, but then it stormed again, and they scrapped the remainder of the tournament. Which sucks. Because they were totally in a great position to take the whole thing. As it stands, we were ranked first going into it, but wound up right in the middle since we didn't get to finish the whole thing. At some point in time, I hope we get to play a tournament in its entirety AND take the whole thing. The last time that happened, it was October.
Come on, rain...SERIOUSLY.
Aubs
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