Take me home to the ball-game...

Summer.

I cant believe it's almost over.

At least the calendar is gentle this year, and Labor Day comes
a little later than normal.

I have had a great summer,
really I have.

Despite the challenges, it has been lovely
to take the time to slow down
and do the things I did as a kid.

And in typical child-like fashion,
I am finding myself making a mad-dash to
get in a few more summer-fun activites
before the official start of the 'school-year'.

(even though I haven't been in school
for nearly a decade,
my brain still focuses on
freshly-sharpened pencils
and starts preparing my annual
Pumpkin Carving party at Halloween,
while my hands start leafing through cookbooks
looking for roast recipes)

One of these such immediate summer activities
was to go, without notice,
to the Dodger game on Sunday.

(ok, well NOT a DODGER game,
really a CUBS game, but dont tell my fellow
Angelenos that that is REALLY why I went)

I remember summers in Chicago

(we didn't live there, but it was my first introduction
to a big city, and is still, minus the weather,
my FAVORITE in the WORLD)

when we used to slather on the sunscreen,
grab a hot dog,
and watch the Cubbies at the most perfect ballpark in history:

Wrigley Field.

*wow

I was overcome
even then,
by the amazing aesthetic of such a remarkable place;
you could SMELL the history in the wooden bleachers,
and I was spellbound by the romance of
the 1913-built field,
with its ivy-covered outfield walls
(planted in 1937)
and un-duplicated anywhere in the league
rooftop seats,
making it, to me, like a very large, magical, back-yard.

*the nearby apartment building's rooftop seats
have always seemed like a special club to me,
and I fantasized as a child about living there someday...

I was pleased to see that the architect's name was
Zachary Taylor Davis
(mine is Ryann Taylor Davis,
preceded by my Grandfather, Carmen Taylor Davis)
so maybe I am connected, somehow,
to this great legacy,
and my cells just KNOW they belong there...
(my grandfather WAS an active part of the Teamsters
in the Chicago area, afterall.)

I hadn't been to a baseball game since I was 12,
and being back, watching the first all-American sport
was a coming home.

I had a wonderful time,
even if we WERE at Dodger Stadium
(which is actually very beautiful as well.)

*Gordy, a Dodger fan, and I, at the game...
he was mortified to be seen with me in my Cubbies regalia...

It has to be noted
that as we arrived late to a tied game,
Dodgers/Cubs 1-1...
the second I sat down at the bottom of the 3rd,
hot dog in hand,
the Cubs started to win.

And they did.
3-1.

Guess they knew I was 'home'.

xx