I had hoped to be writing this post from the in-laws farm and musing about the wonders of a glorious sunset, but Kates and I decided to save our gas money and forgo the three-hour trip, instead settling for a lazy Labor Day on the homestead, highlighted by late night excursions to Dairy Queen for Moo-Lates. To Wal-mart to experience some of the local culture and pick up some school supplies. And staying in the car long after it was parked in the garage to finish listening to the Rolling Stones, singing ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want.’… and now it’s raining.
A cleansing, perhaps.
It’s been a refreshing and memorable end to what’s been a summer of everything gone wrong …
Dad arrived Friday morning for some quality father-son time that involved us putting the finishing touches on the deck/porch area we started at the beginning of the summer. The golden deck that wraps around the back corner of our house and highlights our back yard is now complemented by a full roof over our back door and a fully-working storm door (because the old storm door was such a wreck, it wouldn’t stay closed if you blew on it).
And on Saturday, I took Dad out to the ball game. The Cubs game. Wrigley Field. Cubs-Giants. Barry Bonds.
As I taught Dad about the finer points of a Cubs game day, and the tricks and trades of catching all the right trains, we caught the 10:10 train and rode it to the Evanston stop to pick up the CTA. At the stop I filled our CTA card with enough cash, while the PA blared “an inbound train is approaching,” then I grabbed the card, we put it through the turnstiles and I yelled to Dad, “Run! Run! Run!” We galloped up the stairs and barely squeezed through the doors of the el train before it left the station. Good times.
It was far easier picking up the red line at Howard and we were getting off at the Addison stop in no time. We took a jaunt around the stadium, taking in the “world’s largest block party” and got a cheap lunch at McDonald’s before entering the stadium, grabbing our Mark Prior jersey scratch-and-win cards and finding our seats in the upper deck, just right of home plate. It was gloriously sunny, the wind was blowing in, and Wrigley never looked so beautiful … But I think I say that every time.
For the first couple innings it looked as though we would be in for some history as Sean Marshall was perfect for the first two innings and the Giants’ Matt Cain was perfect through the first four … Bonds got the Giants on the board in the fourth with a homerun that barely cleared the ivy in the right field corner. No. 728 on his career “whether you like it or not,” I said. It was interesting that the fans were booing when he stepped to the plate, and many of them were cheering when he hit the homerun. Even my eyes watered -- not sure though if it was joy that I actually got to see the great slugger hit one of his record homeruns, or sadness that every controversy-ridden homerun he hits puts him closer to breaking Henry Aaron’s respected record.
Later, we got to see one of my all-time favorites, Moises Alou, hit a homerun for the Giants in what was a fun inning to watch offensively (Alou’s homer came just a couple pitches after Ray Durham hit a two-run shot), but another chapter in the nightmare of the Cubs season. And in the ninth, Derek Lee popped a solo shot to lead off the inning and get the Cubs within two runs, 4-2. (It wasn’t until we’d returned home and I was going over the game that I realized three of the players I enjoy watching most -- Bonds, Alou and Lee -- all hit homeruns. How ‘bout that …).
The Cubs actually had a chance to win it in the ninth with runners on the corners, Ronnie Cedeno at the plate and Matt Murton on deck with one out. But -- story of the season -- Ryan Theirot made a rookie mistake and got picked off first. And a pitch or two later, Cedeno went down swinging to end the game. The Cubs lost 4-2.
Now, the chaos of getting out of Wrigley begins. The game ended about 4:15 and our goal was to catch the 4:58 Metra train in Evanston. If we missed it, we were stuck in Evanston for another hour. I didn’t think we were going to make it, but we had a chance … Step one is avoiding the clogs that occur while exiting Wrigley’s upper deck ramps, so Dad and I walked the ramp as far as possible and then cut down to the field level and exited there … Once you’re in the concession area, step two, is avoiding the home plate exit under the red marquee -- do that and you’re bound to get caught in the slow-moving single file line that stretches along the scorching heat of the waiting shuttle buses. So we stayed inside the stadium, walking along the first base side and exited out the right field corner where we could easily cross Sheffield to the CTA station … Step three is getting through the mob at the station and getting up to the platform in time for a train. And we succeeded, making it up the platform in record time and we immediately hopped on the waiting train to Howard … Step four, at Howard we had to wait a few minutes to catch the El to Evanston-Davis, but the worst part was over. From Howard, there were only four more stops to Davis, and we made it with 10 minutes to spare before the train arrived to take us home.
Good luck. Good game. Good times … The whole day, was a sweet, sweet ride.
* * *
Looking back on the weekend, and the good vibrations I’ve been feeling the last few days, I gotta believe things are beginning to look up.
Summer of 2006 = Summer of bad luck.
And I thought our bad luck had ended once the insurance claim from our January burglary was settled and we had our window replaced. Then I lost my cell phone in a load of laundry and little did I know it was just beginning …
* * *
In April, Kates and I signed a contract with a local roofing company to have the roof on our 54-year old home replaced. At that time, they told us the work would be done in about three weeks. Shah! …
The materials weren’t delivered until late June and they sat atop our roof for another week before a roofing crew finally started the job. …
Now, I realize roofing is a messy job, but we didn’t expect to come home the next three nights to piles of shingles that were so high and thick we could barely get to our door. The crew put a tarp down to try protecting our new deck, but otherwise left their tools and supplies scattered throughout our yard for days ….
When it was finally over and the debris was cleared, the crew had left a lengthy scratch on the deck and tore off a piece of our siding, which they discarded in one of their dumpsters and replaced with a completely different colored piece.
The good news? The roof replacement is top-notch and I negotiated with the owner to get a few hundred dollars back for the damage to our deck, but now we’ll remember his illustrious crew every time we set foot on that deck …
* * *
Then there was the issue of my Little Green Machine. As the summer started, it began sputtering a lot, especially when I backed from our driveway or flipped on the AC. So I took it to the local dealer -- the same place I’d been taking it for years, the same place that had always treated me respectfully and courteously. I even made an appointment and told them exactly what the problem was. They promised it would be finished by the end of the day …
Two days later, I had to call the dealer to ask where my car was and whether they had figured out the problem. Yep, it needs a major tune-up, they told me, and it was going to cost about $400. Oh yeah, and they were charging me nearly $200 for having the car checked over and inspected -- even after I told them exactly what needed to be checked and fixed. …
When I called the next morning to debate the issue with the service manager, he agreed to knock 10 percent off the cost if I had the work done and attribute the inspection cost to the thorough process the mechanics use and the computer technology involved. But I didn’t ask for that! I told you what the problem was!! …
Furious, I took the car to another auto shop where Kates has had some success. I got my car returned to me within hours of dropping it off, paid half the price and she drove like the first day I rode her from the lot.
* * *
On Thursday, we finally got our lawn mower back after it had spent nearly two months in a local shop. It was in need of a new spark plug and it was leaking oil from it’s back side, so I took it to the shop in early July. A young guy took it and said it would be ready in about three weeks …
Three weeks came and went and I started calling the shop two, sometimes three times a week asking “Is our lawnmower ready yet?”
“Nope,” they said.
“Well, do you have any idea when it might be ready?”
Long pause. “Ah, looks like it’s going to be a couple of days yet.”
For weeks it was the same answer. And on Thursday morning, I called again. Same answer. …
Then, out of the blue, while doing some errands Thursday afternoon, my phone rings and it’s the lawnmower guy telling me it’s ready to go.
“Excellent!” … I picked the thing up, paid the $60 bill, got it home and immediately mowed the lawn before our neighbors began asking whether we were protesting, well, lawn-mowing? I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about mowing the lawn …
* * *
… In July, with near 100-degree temps outside, Kates and I spent more than a week living out of our basement rec room, thinking that our air-conditioning wasn’t working. We discovered after the temperatures dipped back down that the circuit breaker had merely been tripped. I flipped it back and -- poof -- the air-conditioning came on.
… Our dishwasher also has been on the fritz all summer long …
… I lost my camera at a Brewers game …
… My laptop, at just 6 years old, is already ancient. I’ve lost so many priceless photos and corrupted files in the last few months I’m gonna throw it out a window any day …
… And at times it seemed like the whole world was ending …
* * *
At least I can look back at everything that’s occurred this summer and laugh. All of these things were purely nuisances. Annoyances. People problems … I can still be thankful that I have a roof over me head. A secure job. Good health. Good friends and loving family. Food on the table each day. Money to buy extra things...
... Summerfest was as fun as ever. Kates and I both celebrated memorable birthdays. We saw lots of baseball games and I got back to playing baseball. And we returned to Pine Lake ...
Now as the summer comes to an end and I write all of this, I’m reminded of a classic opinion piece that appeared around this time last year in the Chicago Tribune, proposing that we celebrate New Year’s as the fall begins and the kids return to school. When the fall springs a renewal and new hopes and plans for these long northern winters …
After all that’s happened this summer, all the bad luck, all the hard work, I can’t remember the last time I looked so forward to the winter. In fact, I don’t know that I’ve ever looked forward to a winter … Yet this year, I am. I want to read more. Experience more. Work harder at my job. Write more -- for fun. Complete some of the other smaller house projects I’ve let slide …
And relax …
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