Some old friends and I have been planning I think since the season began to go see the Travelers play but the plans always seemed to fall through, until last night. So yesterday morning, Bryan and I were talking to the kids about going to the baseball game. The Girl and Boy Genius have been to see the Braves before, but it would be a first for Wonder Boy. As Bryan was leaving for work, he asked Wonder Boy, who was sitting in his highchair munching on a poptart, “hey, wanna go to the ballpark?” Wonder Boy, shaking his head vigorously, started scooping up all his poptart pieces into his mouth and arms and trying to squirm out of his seat. So when Bryan closed the door behind himself, he had a look of mixed confusion and disappointment. Of course, it passed quickly, once Spongebob (“Babob”) returned from commercial break.
By the time Bryan was on his way home from work, we’d both been having second thoughts about Wonder Boy at the ballpark. He’s at that age (he’ll be 2 on the 27th) where nothing keeps his attention for very long and everything looks like something he just has to attempt to destroy. Now, surely he couldn’t really hurt anything out at the game, but it would be hot and sticky and late and likely no fun for anyone else. In all our angst to keep him from tearing the place down, we wouldn’t be able to keep up with the game. So during his short commute home, Bryan called (remember the days before cell phones??) to say he thought it best if he kept Wonder Boy with him, while The Girl, Boy Genius and I met my friends for the game. He and Wonder Boy could go to his office to get some work done (hmmm, I wondered how that would turn out), so that maybe he could take Friday off.
Now The Girl and Boy Genius are at the age where, the majority of the time, something’s not fun unless a friend (i.e., someone they know other than mom or dad) is involved. After a few minutes of back and forth about whose friend was going to come with us and whether it was too late in the day to invite anyone, The Girl called her friend “LG”, who lives right around the corner from us. Finally, at about 6:20 p.m., we were in the car headed to meet up with my friends, who’d be gathering between 6:30-6:45 in front of the ballpark.
Several confused minutes and u-turns later, we arrived at the park, well after 7 p.m. As my friends and I filed into the park, I said, “Um … so did they move the park or what?” Laughs. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I have a horrible memory. I’ve been known to argue for hours (I know, I know, hard to believe) that I’ve never been to a particular place or seen a certain movie only to be undoubtedly proven wrong (and I do require some sort of proof!). So my bad memory plus the fact that we only recently moved back to the Little Rock area after a near 10-year absence (see earlier posts on our humble beginnings from last November) inevitably means that I quite often rely on the TomTom to navigate me to common points of interest. Lucky me, this time, Dickey-Stephens Park wasn’t in the TomTom but, hey, don’t the Travelers play all their home games over by War Memorial Park? Yeah, yeah, that’s where it is. Um, did I mention they moved?
Apparently, during my absence from the city, it had not stood still (gasp!). Progress is an endless process (think I Miss Mayberry, by Rascal Flatts), and in this instance included the development of a large ballpark clearly visible from the Broadway Bridge crossing the Arkansas River. Well, duh! Fortunately for me, my friends are used to my bad memory and my being late and didn’t appear too perturbed by my tardiness.
While I enjoyed catching up with my friends as much as possible when conversations are constantly being interrupted and/or sidetracked by children, the children, on the other hand, might not like going to the ballpark with mom anymore. Perhaps it’s because we only got 4 hot dogs, 2 boxes of popcorn, 2 sticks of cotton candy, 2 boxes of Nerds, a package of M&Ms, 2 cokes, 2 sprites, and a bottle of water (most of which was in the first hour of the game) and didn’t spend the whole game in the bounce n’ jump area or buy a $5 baseball or a yo-yo or whatever else was a must-have. I mean, what was I thinking, actually wanting to watch the game? By the way, who won?
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