Harlem Globetrotters

It's a 13 degree Monday morning (which I love) and I'm at 8th & Roast early.  I was able to get out of the house with everyone still sleeping, as it's MLK Day and Jude is off work.  She's taking the boys to an open Predators' practice at the Ford Ice Center followed by an open skate.  J.P. is excited about the prospect of trying out the ice skates he got from Santa Claus.

Jude and I took the boys to see the Harlem Globetrotters Friday evening and I really wanted to write about it while it was still fresh in my mind.  

We had great seats (thanks to Jude), on the 6th row on the sideline at Bridgestone Arena.  Before the game, we had dinner with friends (parent's of J.P.'s Children's House/USN buddies) at Chago's Cantina.  The arena was packed with parents and children, all excited to see the Globetrotters.

Now, I don't have a recollection of seeing the Harlem Globetrotters as a child.  I was, of course, well aware of how they were - Meadowlark Lemon, Curley Neal, etc. - such is the appeal of their worldwide brand.  I also knew, even as a child, that at some point Wilt Chamberlain had played for them.  But I had never seen them in person.

Suffice to say, the Globetrotters did not disappoint.  There was along introduction of the players and several gags before the game started.  I was worried J.P. might be getting bored, because he didn't quite understand the game was part of a larger "show."  I don't think he realized, at first, that the players would clown around so much.  As that concept sunk in, it was special to watch J.P. and Joe (who were sitting between Jude and me) laugh uproariously at the Globetrotters' antics.  Several times, Jude and I exchanged glances over the tops of the boys' heads, laughing ourselves at their amusement over the antics of Ant, Bull, Thunder, Stretch, etc.

The funniest and sweetest thing to me, though, is that J.P. bought into the story hook, line and sinker. He absolutely had no idea that the Globetrotters were destined to win.  In a storyline that was akin to a professional wrestling match, the World All-Star Team's coach found a "game changing rule book" at halftime and proceeded to use it have Globetrotters ejected throughout the second half.  J.P. got angrier and angrier every time the referee made a Globetrotter leave the court.  Then, he got worried, when he realized the Globetrotters would have to forfeit the game if they didn't have enough players to finish.  

J.P.'s demeanor changed from pensive to mortified when Ant (the modern day Meadowlark Lemon) was injured and limped to the locker room.  The Globetrotters were down to five players.  The last straw for him was when the World All-Star Team's coach, playing the role of "heel" to the hilt, changed the scoreboard.  A Globetrotter - Firefly, I think - got caught trying to change the scoreboard back, as a result of which he was ejected.  The Globetrotters had four players left and it appeared a forfeit was imminent.  J.P.'s hands were on his head and he was on the verge of tears.  Priceless.

Suddenly, Ant came limping out to the court from the locker room, to the roar of an adoring crowd.  He grabbed the microphone at mid-court, told the crowd the game would continue, then snatched the "game changing rule book" from the World All-Star Team's coach.  "This isn't a rule book!" he shouted.  "It's your diary!"  And with that, the Globetrotters who had been ejected took off their sweats and rejoined the game.  The Globetrotters won in the last seconds and the winning streak continues. 

What a night!  Rights of passage like these are treasures, to be sure.  J.P. was particularly delighted when I told him that the Instagram photo of him watching the game (above) had been "liked" by Stretch within minutes of my taking it (of course, Stretch was on the floor signing autographs when he somehow managed to "like" the photo.  That's just part of the magic of the Harlem Globetrotter experience.  Through midday Saturday, J.P. had me check repeatedly and report back to him on which Globetrotters "liked" his photo (several did, actually).

Magic, pure magic.

Social-ism

I was out the door earlier than usual today, having taken J.P. to school, so I can be ready for an early conference call.  Right now, I'm relaxing for a minute or two with a cup of coffee at 8th & Roast, gazing out the front window at people hurriedly driving up 8th Avenue headed to work.

I don't post on the blog as much as I used too, certainly, and that makes me more than little sad.  I've thought about that a lot and come to the realization that there are several reasons for it.

First and foremost, I'm busy with work, family and really, just trying to survive.  I'm tired most of the time, although it's often a contented tired.  Not always, but often.  Because free time is at a minimum, I think I've spent what little I have trying to squeeze in a run, watching a television series I'm interested in or reading.  

For a variety of reasons, one of which is that she isn't on the computer much anymore, my mom has stopped reading the blog.  I realize, now, that in more ways than perhaps I understood, I was writing for her.  She enjoyed the posts and photos so much, shared them with her friends, and always commented positively on a post within a day or so of my having written it.  

In truth, too, I tend to post when I'm happy and in a great mood.  I've been under a bit of of stress for a while now, some of it self-imposed, I know.  When I'm worried or a little down, I'm just not as reflective.  I am indeed a worried, and I'm not sure if that's something about my personality I can change at this stage of the game.

Lastly and most significantly, as much as I love Twitter - and I do love Twitter - I think it's the biggest reason for the dearth of posts on the blog.  Twitter provides an outlet, in 140 characters or less, for me to post my thoughts, ideas and feelings the moment I have them.  In many ways, Twitter is a reflection of our society today, a society built around the desire for instant gratification and the need to have things - including attention - when you want them.  For me, creatively, I think Twitter gives me an outlet to be creative a few times a day (or not at all) and to do it quickly, in between things or while driving (gasp!).  By the time everyone is in bed and I have a few minutes to myself, it seems like I've already spent the creative energy that I might have had on a particular day in small bursts of Tweets throughout the day (or every few days).  

In a way, for me, Twitter has affected my blogging like e-mails affected letter writing for so many.  Very few people write letters anymore, when they can send a quick e-mail instead.  Ernest Hemingway wrote more than 7,000 letters in his lifetime.  Today, no one writes letters.  

For 2016, I'm going to try to blog more and as I think of it now, to write a few letters.  

Holiday Reflections

I'm sitting in Fido in Hillsboro Village, having a latte and enjoying my status as a Bongo Java Belmont refugee.  Bongo, the center of my universe, has been closed for the past two and half weeks to undergo interior renovations.  I've been roaming in the mornings in search of good coffee - Frothy Monkey, Portland Brew, The Good Cup (Grassland), Fenwick's, 8th and Roast and Fido.  Truthfully, it's been kind of fun to mix things up a bit.

Slowly and sadly, Christmas 2015 is receding into my memory and joining "the ghosts of Christmases past." A little reflection is in order before I head to the office for a meeting.

• In a season filled with highlights, "Great" (Rita White) was missed.  It was our first Christmas without her and she was never far from our thoughts and hearts.  On Christmas Eve, at J.P.'s request, we went to church at St. Henry's, Great's church, where we have attended Christmas Eve Mass the last several years.  It was a fitting tribute to the matriarch of Jude's family and someone J.P. and Joe loved dearly.
• On the way home from Chad White's house, where we had a splendid time celebrating "the White family Christmas" - I overheard Joe ask J.P. the following:  "How does Santa Claus get to the mall?"  J.P. answered, "He drives his car.  I asked him last year and that's what he told me."  Jude and I could barely suppress our giggles in the front seat.
• The next morning, again as we were driving, Joe asked J.P. another pointed question.  "What kind of car does Santa Claus drive to the mall?"  J.P. responded quickly, "A Mercedes.  Just like in the commercial on T.V."  More giggles from Jude and me in the front seat.
• As always, the return of our Elf was highly anticipated by the boys.  They woke up early on December 1 in anticipation of his return and hurried downstairs to look for him.  The ritual of the boys finding the Elf made Jude and me smile every morning.

• Another family tradition was the spirited game of "hide and seek" we played at the Christmas tree lot in Green Hills, where we purchased our Christmas tree.  Always a favorite of J.P., the purchase of the Christmas tree was secondary to the 45 minutes we spent taking turns hiding amongst the frasier firs.
• Because Joe so admired our next door neighbor's inflatable snowman, I ordered a giant inflatable Santa Claus riding in a hot air balloon.  Upon its arrival, I decided it would be cool if our Elf set it up and left the boys a note about it.  One night while the boys slept, Jude assembled it and I zipped over to Edley's, where a bartender with whom I'm friendly - Kara - penned a note to the boys from the Elf.  The next morning, J.P. read the note on the mantle and the boys looked in the front yard, eyes wide with amazement that the Elf had brought our inflatable Santa Claus back from the North Pole.
• On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the temperature in Nashville was in the mid-70's.  Nice for playing outside, certainly, but in my mind, ridiculous weather for Christmas.
• On the night of December 23, Jude and I put the boys to bed, then traipsed downstairs to the basement and put together the foosball table the boys were getting for Christmas.  Actually, Jude did most of the putting together, while I served as her assistant and played the video we found of a guy putting the same foosball table together.  Team effort.
• The day after Christmas - December 26 - when Joe got up in the morning, he was ecstatic to see that the foosball table was still downstairs, in the living room.  I was confused until he told me he thought Santa Claus was going to take it back (to the North Pole, presumably) while the boys were asleep on Christmas night.  I guess he thought it was a rental.
• Big hits for Joe this Christmas - the foosball table and "Baseball Guys."  Joe loves J.P.'s "Football Guys" (a gift long ago from former next door neighbors, Deb and Rich Lehrer) and he was really excited to get "Baseball Guys" from Santa Claus.  He's played with it non-stop since Christmas.  For J.P., the biggest hit was his "football gloves" (receiver's gloves), although they're too big for him.  He's enjoyed  his hockey stickers, too.
• For Jude's parent's 47th anniversary, we went to see the Christmas lights at Cheekwood, followed by dinner at the Pineapple Room.  The weather was great and it was an enjoyable night, for sure.  Joe enjoyed watching the trains run outside at the train exhibit and J.P. enjoyed roasting marshmallows an making smores.
• Our friends, Giles, Josephine and their sons, Hugo and Cecil, went to church with us the Sunday before Christmas.  It was J.P.'s favorite Sunday of the year, as he got to help decorate St. Patrick for Christmas.  Cecil joined him and J.P. got a kick out of showing him the ropes.  Afterwards, we went to Martin's BBQ for lunch.  A good Sunday morning.

Overall, another nice Christmas holiday that I'm sad to have behind me.  It was nice, though, to have one more year - maybe the last one - where both boys totally and completely believed in Santa Claus and the magic of Christmas.  I hope, but doubt, that we can squeeze one more Christmas in where we get a buy in from both boys.  But, that's for next December.   

Christmas Eve 2015

It's Christmas Eve in Nashville, Tennessee, and I'm sitting on the side porch of our new house enjoying a ridiculous 66 degree evening.  Global warming?  It feels like it.

The boys are in bed, Jude just went to bed and we're all set for Christmas morning.  The big ticket item this year?  A foosball table for the boys.  It's nice to have room for one, as it fit quite nicely in the playroom upstairs.

It's our first Christmas in the new house, so it feels a little strange (to me, anyway).  Although I'm settling into our new house, I miss our old house, neighbors and neighborhood terribly, especially at this time of year.  Not to be maudlin about it, but we celebrated Christmas there a dozen times.  I know, as time goes on, I'll settle in here, establish new holiday traditions - like sitting on the side porch on Christmas Eve in 66 degree weather - and the new house will become woven into the fabric of my life like the old house was before we moved.

The boys were so excited today and this evening.  "Can you believe Christmas will be here tomorrow morning?  J.P. asked, over and over again.  The boys are so innocent and believing it makes my heart ache because I know the time is rapidly approaching when the holidays won't be that way for them and, by default, for us.  God, it's such a special thing, to share the Christmas season with young children.

So many of my friends have older children - high school and college aged children.  I envy them sometimes, because their lives seem simpler and less demanding.  They have more freedom than Jude and I do.  I worry I won't be able to enjoy my boys high school and college years the way I would like to, because I'll be an older father.  My health is always a concern, more so as I get older.  However, I wouldn't trade anything - not anything - for having the opportunity to celebrate Christmas with J.P. eight times and with Joe four times, counting tomorrow.  God has blessed me.

Merry Christmas, 2015.

Joe

I could take one thousand pictures of Joe and not get one as good as this one.  I took this one at the Children's House Winter Bazaar.  Normally, Joe doesn't like to have his picture taken.  This particular morning, for some reason, he just laughed while I took pictures of him shooting basketball.

'Tis the Season

I'm sitting in a crowded Frothy Monkey on 12th Avenue, near our house, enjoying some Justin Townes Earle on Spotify and a Bell's Two Hearted Ale, while Christmas Day hurtles toward me like a giant asteroid.  Five days away and counting.

I'm not feeling particularly "Christmas-sy," mostly because my office in a state of turmoil due to staffing issues.  Over the past 18 months we have lost at least three staff or employees, two longtime valued members of our team.  It's another post for another day, but suffice to say my theory that you treat staff and employees well and they will reciprocate is way, way off base.  The reality is that to anyone other than Mark, Chas and me, it's just another job, no different, special or better than any other job.  Perhaps that's a bit cynical, but it feels like the truth at the moment.    

J.P. finished up his fall basketball (First Presbyterian Church) league yesterday.  His team lost to a team of Oak Hill boys in a close game for the only blemish on an otherwise perfect fall season.  Truthfully, it was good for his team to lose a game, I think, as they had rolled over all of their other opponents.  The teams were evenly matched and it was fun watching them go at it.  J.P.'s team led until midway through the fourth quarter, when players on the Oak Hill team hit three tough shots in a row.  I think the final was 26-22.

I was proud of J.P., because he was matched up against a taller, older and better player throughout the game.  He scored two or three buckets on J.P. and pushed him around in the lane a bit, but J.P. held  his own.  He played tough, which made me proud.

The highlight of the game, for me, was when Wes (our tallest player) posted his defender up, clapped his hands and demanded the ball.  Of course, our guards didn't throw it to him, but I loved the play for a couple of reasons.  First, Wes is probably the most good natured, laid back player on the team.  For him to clap his hands and demand the ball was a big, big step.  Second, the post up was strong, and it showed me he is learning how to use his body to screen a defender off and get the ball in scoring position.  I love moments like that in  youth sports.

I found myself getting a little more fired up than usual.  At one point, I shouted at J.P. to move his feet on defense and he actually replied, "I am!"  Notwithstanding the fact that he wasn't moving his feet, it made me wonder if, at times, I am a little too demonstrative at games.  Generally, we talk about two or three things for him to work on during games and I try to leave it at that.  It's virtually impossible for me, but I think during the winter season, I'm going to try to watch his games without cheering (loudly), instructing from the sideline, etc.  We'll see how that goes.

After the game, almost the entire team (and parents) went to Edley's on 12th Avenue for brunch.  Great boys, great families.  Jude and I are so lucky to have fallen into this circle of friends - for us and for J.P.  I hope it works the same way with Joe.

Dads and Friends

One of the unexpected pleasures of J.P.'s involvement in sports (baseball, basketball and soccer) has been the number of new friends Jude and I have through our interactions with his teammates' parents.

As I've mentioned in this space before, the same nucleus of boys has stayed together and played all three sports.  It's worked out well, as I've coached fall and spring baseball, with other dads helping me.  I get to watch basketball and soccer, pitching in when needed, while other dads coach those sports.  It's worked well.

It's such a nice thing to walk into the basketball gym - as I did at David Lipscomb Elementary School Saturday morning - and sit down with friends to watch our sons play basketball together.  Parents and grandparents, all of whom know each other and are comfortable with each other, talking and laughing   easily as the game started.

The men who help me coach baseball and who coach J.P. in basketball and soccer are all good, fun, solid family men.  They're guys I would be friends with even if our boys didn't play sports together.  Of course, I wouldn't know them if our boys didn't play sports together.  That's the point, I guess.  Russ, Will, Chris, Dan and Will.  All good guys.

I'm curious if the same type of thing will develop with other parents when Joe starts playing sports this spring, when I coach his baseball team.  I've got a great group of kids and parents lined up to play baseball on our team, but I'm wondering if it will be the same.  I hope so.