Meanwhile, Rick James...

(Nicky in his Nagys uniform during a tee ball game, June 2010)

So, tee ball sign-ups are this month, and I am in a bit of a philosophical pickle.

Nicky played tee ball last summer on the Nagys, and he loved the team and his coach, Mike.  I was a little unhappy with the way the team practiced, but I eventually warmed up to the idea that these were just four, five, and six year olds who were just learning the basics of the fine art of baseball.  They weren't learning to be the next A-Rod or Grady Sizemore.  They were learning to hit a ball off a tee and run to first base and not third.  I was more than psyched for this season, especially since I was keeping him on the Nagys and with Coach Mike.  Mike really had a way with the kids.  They loved him and they listened, and us parents loved him because he was patient and made practice fun.

All was well until February 10th.  Mike died suddenly of pneumonia.  It caught us all completely off guard.  He was only 30, and he didn't seem sickly or weak.  Nicky had never really been exposed to death before, and I was a little unsure as to how to tell him.  My mom and I sat him down and explained that Coach Mike had been very very sick and that he had died...I told him that he was coaching all the little angel kids in heaven.  He seemed to get it, and even now he's like "Mommy, Coach Mike is in heaven.  He died."  I was honestly surprised that a five year old could grasp the finality of death.  Part of me is still waiting for him to ask me where Mike is when the season starts.

The inevitable question of who is going to take over the coaching postition quickly takes the forefront.  Zach, Mike's nephew of indeterminable age (I think he's like 20 or 21, tops.) and even more indeterminable maturity offers to take Mike's place.  Zach was the one the kids would play with when they were supposed to be listening to Mike.  He was also completely useless when it came to getting the kids to calm down.  None of the kids took him seriously.  I thought he was a big goofball, very immature and nerdy, but not in the cool nerdy way.  He was more of the obnoxious and dumb nerdy way.  He got on my nerves.  I thought he was pretty harmless...Until he got all weird via Facebook messages when I was laid up in bed with severe tonsillitis last Thanksgiving.  He went from being concerned about me being unable to swallow to being a bit of a creeper that kept messaging me and getting weirder with each message.  I blocked him because I didn't need a puppy dog kind of kid hanging around me with a crush.  I know that sounds mean, and maybe it was, but I didn't want him to get the wrong message.  He was the assistant assistant coach of my son's tee ball team, not to mention he was kind of like a big kid himself.  No sir.

Honestly, I don't want Zach coaching my son.  He is not going to be able to control all those kids, and Nicky goes up to softball next summer (2012).  He needs to learn the basics from someone who is serious about being a coach.  I also, however, don't want to look like a gigantic bitch, especially since this kid took on the mantle of coach in lieu of his dead uncle.  I think I am going to transfer him to another team.  Nicky is okay with it--one of the perks, I guess, of being six and being resilliant.  Why the hell do I feel so bad about it when he's just like whatever?  I need to suck it up and be more like Nick.

Do-Wah-Doo

Ahh…Summer is on its way. Hallelujah.



The air smells like flowers and stuffs up my nose. Pollen is every-freaking-where, but that doesn’t pale the beauty of the bright greens and the vivid colors of the flowers. Spring in Cleveland could be compared to a blind man seeing for the first time in his life--after a world of gray and drab from November to mid-March, the city looks as though it was run through the washer with Tide. Colors are brighter, the sun is warmer, the air feels amazing, pollen aside. You wake up feeling amazing. The world is anew, and you feel as though you can do anything. Mother Nature decided to wash away the bad and present us all with a clean slate.


May has been a great month, seriously. I finished school two weeks ago, and I got As in both my classes (I dropped Sociology and Ethics due to conflicts between balancing mommydom and work and school and Lashawn). I also decided to change my major from Pre-Law to Anthropology. I love history and studying different cultures, and I am researching Socio Cultural Anthroplogy--for the first time in a while, I am excited about my career choice. I suppose that says a lot about how I really felt about Law--I love it in conceptual theory, but I think I would be miserable if I actually practiced it. I am more happy moving around instead of being in an office all day long. I also don’t think I could handle the cases I would handle--I wanted to go into Child Advocacy, and I think all the different stories would kill me, in the most metaphorical sense. I want to be able to watch my son grow up and not always be away from him, and I would love to be able to do something I love as a career.


Nicky started tee ball, and he is the Tee Ball King. I am so proud! They had their first practice scrimmage game yesterday, and his team won. I missed it, but my brother said that Nicky hit the ball on the first try the two times he was up at bat, and he hits the ball deep into outer field. He really enjoys the game, and I am hoping a few of his tee ball friends will be in his class in Kindergarten in the fall.


Speaking of Kindergarten, he had his screening last Friday, and he is all set for the fall. I already got his school supply list and his uniform order form. He is psyched to be starting Kindergarten and going to “big boy school”.


I am also starting a diet. School and the stress of the past semester sort of derailed my exercise routine, and I gained like 6 pounds over the past four months. I am tired of feeling sluggish and worn down, and I have noticed that I went up a dress size, and those pants are starting to get tight. I will, however, miss the little oomph the weight added to my cleavage! I aiming to lose some of the extra weight I hadn’t lost from last year, so about ten to fifteen pounds. I figure that I should be able to do it over the summer. I am also trying to put some WD-40 in my old creative part of my noggin, and am toying with the idea of attempting a novel this summer. I have a few ideas running around in my head, and if I get anything going, I will share it with you guys via blog.


That is the run down for now. I promise another awesome post soon. XO