Surreality

I'm sitting on the porch at Bongo Java, taking a mental health day off of work and enjoying a breathtaking beautiful fall afternoon before I pick up J.P. at school.


When I "googled" the blog to get started with his post, I was directed to an old post from March 28, 2010, J.P.'s  2nd birthday.  I read the post and was instantly and somewhat nostalgically transported back in time. 


The link is here:  http://thestorkstopshere.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html.


When I read the post form 4 + years ago, the first thing I noticed was I listening to John Coltrane when I was writing it.  As I sit here now, I'm listening to John Coltrane.


Surreal.


The other night, I asked J.P. to recycle a plastic bottle of water for me.  To entice him and half-kidding, I added, "I'll be your best friend."


J.P. took the plastic bottle out of my hand, looked at me quizzically, and said, "Daddy, you already are my best friend."


I looked away, so he couldn't see the tears in my eyes.

Major League Soccer (Sort Of)

As the family Sports Czar, I decided to play J.P. up a division in the fall soccer league at First Presbyterian Church.  He wanted to play with one of his friends, Jack, who is 7.  At 6 1/2, J.P. is one of the younger players in the 7-8 year old league.  Overall, his team (the Yellow Bombs) is young, so they have struggled so far and are winless on the year.

Nonetheless, J.P. has had a blast.  Today was his second to last game for the fall soccer season.  Since Jude and I will miss the season finale next weekend, I took my camera to today's game and took some photos.

J.P. Meets His Hero

J.P. is a huge Vanderbilt fan, much to my chagrin.  When Vanderbilt's baseball team, led by coach extraordinaire Tim Corbin, won the College World Series J.P. was excited beyond belief.

One of the highlights of J.P.'s summer was attending Coach Corbin's baseball camp at Hawkins Field at Vanderbilt.  With 11 different fielding, hitting and pitching stations manned by Vanderbilt players, it was heaven on earth for J.P. and 250 other boys, ages 5-12.

Perhaps the best part of the day was after clinic, when J.P. got to meet his idol, freshman left fielder Brian Reynolds.  I've known Brian in passing since he was a boy, having played law league softball with his father, Greg, for several years.  When I re-introduced myself to Brian and introduced him to J.P., he smiled, kneeled down and put his arm around J.P. while he talked to him.  J.P. was awestruck.

J.P. and Vanderbilt left fielder and SEC All-Freshmen, Brian Reynolds, after Coach Tim Corbin's youth baseball clinic.