Day 109 - 06/09/2007

N had a T-ball game this morning. We rode our bikes to the game and on the way I found a quarter. I told N he could have it if he didn't goof off during the game. It apparently worked as he ran hard every time he got a hit and was much better in the field. He still has a way to go (especially with fielding), but at least he was paying attention vs. playing in the dirt. Actually, all the kids seem to be coming along. Maybe it's because one of the kids with an attention deficit wasn't there. Things go so much easier when he's not around. Is it bad that I'm glad when he doesn't show up? Or maybe it's because they're just so much better at games on Saturdays vs. during the week after they've been out playing all day. I guess we'll find out next week.

M had her last softball game of the season. She's also come a long way over the course of the season. I'm really glad she enjoys softball as much as she does. I'm not sure whether she'll ever try soccer again, but I'd be surprised if she didn't stick with softball. Her hitting is vastly improved, as is her fielding (well, some of it, there were a few plays where she completely blew her assignment, but what she did was exactly what her coach told her to do). I hoped to be able to work with both of them more than I did over the course of the season, but wasn't able to as they weren't always receptive to practicing their skills on non-practice days. That's alright. I've learned my lesson with N's training wheels and if they don't want to do something, I'm not going to force the issue just because I think they should do it. (Well, not for everything, I will continue to push on those things I deem to be important or once-in-a-while type opportunities.)

We headed to one of N's coaches house for a coach party this afternoon. D took M over to Fair Oaks for a birthday party at Build-A-Bear and came back. (Of course, I put the wrong address into the GPS and it took her half-way across the county in trying to get to the mall, which is no more than five minutes from Mike's house. Arrgh.)

The big revelation came soon after N and I arrived. Mike told me that the other Mike also went to LBSS. I asked him when he graduated and when he said '82, I asked him if he knew CL.

"Yep."

What about CF.

"Sure did. Both from HS as well as from delivering her paper."

It turns out he lived in my neighborhood growing up and was the guy who dropped off CF and my papers for us to deliver. We reminisced about Mr. Schaefer (our distributor) and about the time our stacks of paper were lit on fire by a disgruntled customer of CFs (well, we thought it was him; she rejected his advances when she was asked out on a date).

I know this isn't really a big question (although I'll label it as such), but more of a six degrees of separation at work again type of thing, but in this area, it seems there are more and more folks running into people who know people (or who they know from their past) in an environment that is totally unexpected.

This new-found revelation turned the topic of conversation to other types of relationships and it turns out the wife of one of the other coaches grew up a mile from me (but in the WS school district) and worked at the pool that Mike went to. Another one turned out that a few of them knew a neighbor of ours across from the school. After a few minutes of this, I tossed out the trump card in that she (the neighbor) used to work for my mom way back in the early '80s.

Again, it's amazing how these connections are identified so many years later. I guess the adage that the DC area is so transient is no longer valid.