This is a weird time of year to live in Arizona. Facebook friends and family aren't all back in school yet, they consider it fall already, their days are too cold for swimming and their nights are getting chilly.
Here, the kids have been in school for 3 to 4 weeks. Our weekend forecast is around 109 degrees still. Our nights are in the 90s and somewhat humid due to it being "monsoon season". It's still too hot to really enjoy outdoor activities and sports (maybe by late September?), but we're too busy with school now to have time to swim, and when we do, the pool feels like a hot tub, not very refreshing.
So what's it like here? We're finishing up our 3rd week of school with Jordan. She's in 11th grade, but it may be her last year if we can get her into the Culinary Arts program as a senior next year at the local community college. It's almost the end of baseball season, not sure how the two of us will handle that. We've been sad (losing Parra and Prado, plus all the injuries), got angry (bad rules and calls made this year), and celebrated (we beat the top teams?!) with the Arizona Diamondbacks, or "Dbacks" from late March until now. I know if you aren't into sports, you think, "so what?" Here's why it's important to us:
1. This was Jordan's 1st year getting into baseball. She watched the playoffs last year and fell in love with the game, the Detroit Tigers, and of course, the Boston Red Sox. This year, we were given free tickets to Chase Field to watch the D'backs. That was all it took. She fell in love with the team, the venue, and the game. I literally watched her come alive for the first time in years - and she continues to amaze me every day regarding her love for it.
2. Baseball is something I love because I grew up watching it. I loved it during the late 70s when the Red Sox had Carl Yastrzemski, Fred Lynn, Jim Rice, Louis Tiant, Dennis Eckersly, and those guys. I knew the players by their faces, numbers and stats. I absorbed it all. I also love it because my Grandmother loves the Red Sox (and sports in general). When I watch a game, I feel closer to her, especially if I'm watching the Red Sox and know she is too.
3. Jordan has always struggled with remembering facts and some has some math issues. For some reason, with baseball, that all disappears. She knows the players, the coaches, the venues, who's on other teams that we like, remembers who got hurt, how and when it happened, who got traded to what team, specific events of specific games, when we last played them, past scores, you name it. I've never seen her mind work like this before.
4. Jordan also comes alive at Chase Field. Her face lights up, she's willing to do things she won't do anywhere else. She's more independent, more willing to speak to strangers if she has to, and she smiles more watching players succeed than any other time, and any other place.
5. Talking baseball is something she and I have in common that's "just us". Growing up, I've always had special relationships with my boys that's still in place today. I can have discussions with they guys now about anything and everything, but since she's never had a boyfriend (nor wanted one), never had a job yet, never went away with a group, etc., she's been sort of left out of those type of conversations. Now we have something that's just for us to discuss that's special between us.
6. 2015...she's already looking forward to Spring Training, which moved from Tucson to just up the highway from us. She's looking forward to seeing our injured players return for next season. We even are in negotiations for a small season tickets type of package (but WAY less games and WAY less money with LOTS of extras) with someone at Chase Field. We're hoping to get to a few more games than we did this year. With the package, we'll get to do extra events to meet players, save on in-park items, trade/buy/sell tickets for profit, get all the freebies offered throughout the year, gain early entry to watch the home team's batting practice, and more. We hope we get the one we want for under the price we want to spend.
7. I love the values displayed at our baseball games. We sing the national anthem, we sing God Bless America, we salute military, fire, and police at every game, we get involved in charities in our own community, we avoid the excessive drinking, drugs, and vulgarity that's so prevalent at say, football games. It's a great place to know we're not alone in holding to wholesome values in this turbulent time of situational ethics.
So as we enter September, it'll be a sad time for us because the season winds down, playoffs (which we're definitely NOT going to be in) will only take us into early to mid October. We'll start to pull out the pumpkin flavored and scented stuff, and readjust to enjoy our wonderful Arizona winter.
