Wait til next year

As my long-time single friends and I know, being single and continuously looking for Mr. Right is like being a Red Sox fan. We have the fun times and the losing streaks, and we have the occasional magical season that suddenly goes to pot just as we think it’ll finally happen.

Those of us in our 40s wrestled with the biological clock thing in our 30s and early 40s, some considering going it alone through adoption or fertility treatments (a friend of mine went the sperm bank route), and some of us gave up on the idea of parenting altogether and rethought our lives in a different way. My desire for children has always only come out of my feelings for someone in a relationship, rather than the other way around. I mean, first things first, right? So here I am, 45 and having given up on the idea of family, and someone recently got me thinking about it again, because he wants kids. I was very resistant at first, then something switched in my brain and I decided it would be a great thing. So what happens? The relationship vanishes and I’m left with this desire for family.

And of course the universe now conspires to put family all around me. I just started working on a website project for an independent school that runs from preschool through 8th grade. I spent the last two days touring pre-school and middle school classrooms and talking to teachers, administrators and parents. Kids and bunnies all over the place. Curse of the bambino, indeed.

10:15:52 AM      trackback [] 

Opening Day at Fenway Park

It’s opening day at Fenway Park and Red Sox fans are being Red Sox fans. At Bambino’s Curse, Edward is busy complaining about last night’s game, comparing the experience to a night with a succubus:

...if they had baseball in the Dark Ages, they wouldn't have needed to mythologize demons that do this to you. Oh, no, the extra inning loss (walking the winning run in add insult to injury) will leave you feeling worse the next day than any succubus or incubus ever could.

 

I awoke this morning feeling the way Dan Shaughnessy probably feels every morning: nasty, mercurial, full of bile, and with a supreme desire to make everyone else feel just as bad as I do. (note: Shaughnessy is a Globe sports writer)

Filmmakers are making a documentary about last year’s Red Sox season. They held a contest for naming it and ended up with the optimistic "Still, We Believe: the Boston Red Sox Movie." But in Boston.com's contest, fans came up with titles like “Dude, Where's My Bullpen?”, “I know what you did last summer. I wish I didn't know what you did last fall” and "Cowboy Up Yours." You can vote on your favorite fan-contributed title here.

Here’s a great idea for a blog – a Red Sox fan and a Mets fan follow their teams on the aptly named Misery Loves Company (at www.nextyear.blogspot.com).

Maybe all these fans just need to be more philosophical about the game. Check out “Is baseball a Zen sport?” on Beginner’s Mind.

The last word on this for today goes to ESPN.com’s Sean McAdam (who I used to date, btw – nice guy): “It figures to be an interesting ride. With the Red Sox, it always is.”

(Globe Staff Photo / John Tlumacki)

9:27:11 AM      trackback []