Prom Date 2: Braves Game

Exhausting weekend on the go. Friday I was in pain all day from the pulled muscle in my back. Worked late, then ran four errands on the way home, shopping for T-shirts for Anna. Arrived home around 8 pm. Anna was in full cleaning mode for her Saturday afternoon get-together. I had to got out and pick up Matthew up at the Super Target, near Claire’s. Didn’t get home until 10:30.

Saturday morning I focused on cleaning the downstairs. Anna painted a letter on each T-shirt, spelling out BRAVES. I blew the driveway and everything looking good for the arrival of Anna’s two BFF’s Emily and Brittany, and the three boy victims: Will Acuff, son of Lindsey and nephew of Julianne; Josh Moran: golden boy starting QB for Northview High, and Bo Wynn: Crown middle-school baseball player and Anna’s prom date. Brittany, Josh, and Will are former Living Science students.

We all piled into the van and arrived at Turner Field in time for batting practice. I had went in and bought my parking pass in advance. Martin Prado tossed a ball to Anna, and the other girls bantered with Matt Diaz about Diaz’ brother Jonny, a Christian singer. Without a glove, I was prepared to catch a home run ball using the Braves T-shirts as a cushion. When the big moment came, the line drive hit the shirts, then my chest…HARD! Shirts went everywhere as I focused on picking up the ball at my feet. The ball missed my heart by an inch. Later I handed the ball to Brittany.

Just before the Pirates batting practice ended, two old men were putting up their worn first-baseman’s mitts in their old cloth bags when a home run sailed into the section to our right. The ball bounced off several fans, past one of the old men, and rolled right to me. I felt a little bad, but still picked up the ball and immediately tossed it several rows back to Josh. Two BP balls…pretty much a career day for me.

During the game I needlessly worried about all the wild college and high school students piling into our section. My boys were focused on the game. Brittany was focused on the boys, and Emily and Anna were happy to tag along. The game was nothing special, but the crowd was pretty big for April. We left after the eighth inning, beat most of the traffic, and headed to the Varsity…where the good times continued. I was starved, and I had waited so long to get to the Varsity. I didn’t order much, but then I also ate Anna’s fries. Drank my chocolate shake too fast.

Around midnight we arrived at Bo’s house in northwest Roswell, where the boys would spend the night. I didn’t get to bed until after 12:45…then I couldn’t sleep all night.

Sunday I took the girls to the early service at North Point. I’m glad I didn’t get caught in the 10K travel Saturday in Roswell. Sunday there was a bike race and construction, so it took forever. Back home after brunch I fell into a DEEP sleep. After my nap I tried to not eat too much, so I’d be back to normal. Watched some Braves and Hawks, and National Treasure, and edited some baseball pictures for the upcoming baseball banquet.     

These next few weeks are going to be crazy. Will is in Florida until next Sunday. We really don’t need to go down there, because next Tuesday Ceil leaves for Paris. Then we have the baseball banquet that night and Mary-Clayton and Haley Hurt’s graduation/party Saturday. MC is singing at the graduation, and Haley may be speaking.   

My Macon friend Johnny goes to all the weekday games, and I think he keeps all his BP catches in his basement “Museum” with all his baseball cards, bobbleheads, stadium seats, jerseys, and other memorabilia. Based on the photos I’ve seen, it’s pretty impressive. He dates each ball, along with which player hit it.