We're Going To Fenway!!!!

Earlier this week, for some reason, I popped "Field of Dreams" into the VCR while we were picking up after camping last weekend. I really enjoy the movie. I got kind of misty eyed as it started, suddenly remembering the ending and the missed opportunities of life, the whole father/son dynamic.

As it progressed, Nan, Logan and I all made our way to the various seats and ended up doing more watching than picking up. I shared with the two of them how I first saw the movie while I was living in Boston, how the crowd cheered when the characters went to Boston, how Costner's character drove right past the apartment I was living in.

I also shared how James Earl Jones' character was originally J.D. Salinger in the book and I had JUST read "Catcher in The Rye" for the first time.

The ending got all of us really choked up (despite Logan's unsolicited protestations of "I'm not crying!").

That night, I stayed up FOREVER (really like 3:00 AM....I am trying to squeeze as much out of the rest of this summer as possible) and woke up grumpy at 6:30 AM. I requested no television that morning for no real reason, other than I was cranky and it seemed like we were watching TOO much television lately. Nan encouraged me to lie down for a little while longer but held true to my no television edict.

I set my alarm for 9:00 AM so that I wouldn't sleep too long. The radio came on and I caught part of the local DJ asking a Red Sox trivia question. I hit snooze and Nan opened the bedroom door.

I was confused as to what was going on, but she was listening to the radio in the other room and asked me if I knew which Red Sox player was the only one in team history to score 150 runs in a season. I came up with three choices....David Ortiz, Wade Boggs or Ted Williams. All three seemed like valid guesses....Ortiz hit 54 home runs in 2006, Boggs batted well north of .300 from 1982 to 1991, and Williams, well, was Williams.

I said go with Ortiz. In my sleep deprived state it made sense. She got through....and was wrong. She asked me who she should try next. I went back in forth for a few seconds and suggested Williams.

Still not fully awake, I hear her talking and obviously getting the answer right. She comes running in and tells me she won two tickets to this Saturday's "Vermont Day" at Fenway, when the Blue Jays will be playing the Sox!

Well this wakes me up! We start trying to figure out who will watch Logan and when we would go down and so on. We decide we will run to the DMV first (to get our Enhanced Drivers' Licenses for a trip to Montreal this October) and then will hit the radio station before Haley comes home.

The DMV is a mini bust, as we do not have all the documents we need, but the lady is helpful and gives us all the right forms. We decide to try the DMV the next day and debate on whether to go get the tickets right then or wait.

(I'm babbling but it all has a point!)

We give ourselves a time limit....if we are not at the station by 11:30 AM, we will have to turn around and head home to meet Haley and will get the tickets later.

We make every light and hit the parking lot of WJOY at 11:28 AM. Nan, Logan and I go to get the tickets. The station manager is out front and is chatting, asking which of us will go to the game. We said just Nan and I, since there are two tickets....that Logan will go to his first game another time.

The manager goes out back, gets a group of four tickets and offers to trade them for Nan's two! He apologizes because they are one row back but we jump on them! Logan is giddy! Nan is giddy!

The only down side is that Haley is away this weekend. We took her to her first big league game when she was four. She lasted six innings at Olympic Stadium, mostly because it was so empty she was able to play and run around. If our extra ticket remains unused, Logan will have a little wiggle room, perhaps allowing him to last longer....(I was willing to leave an Expos game....I don't see myself willing to leave a Sox game.)

We struggled to find a decent hotel at this late a date, but a site I never heard of before (booking.com) found us a room in the same hotel Nan and I stayed at when we went to a game three years ago! It is less than 3/4 of a mile from the park AND the site found it cheaper than ANY comparable room!

So we are going to Boston on Saturday! We will hit some Paneras and Targets on the way down....maybe a comic book shop or two on the way home!

The ONLY minor negative is the fact that the Sox are playing the Jays. I have been to more than 20 games at Fenway and seen them play the Jays more than any other team....and they have lost EVERY TIME!!!