It Was a Good Day

I stepped out of my house Saturday morning and was immediately struck by warmth of the sun. It was a beautiful day by anyone's standards... I don't normally notice things like that, but it had been a particularly ugly week here in the suburbs of our Nation's Capital and such a drastic change really made me take notice.

If the weather were a movie, then I would have to say the Sun had been relegated to small cameo parts all week. "Hey isn't that the sun?!" I found myself saying during her brief appearances... But now here she was, back in a leading role.

It was such a nice day in fact that it made me, the home-body, want to go do outside stuff like go hiking, or ride a bike, or whatever it is normal people do when it's nice out.

Sadly though, I was not on my way to do any of those normal people activities. I was on my way to work... It was only for 4 hours, but I was sure that by the time I left to go home, it would be raining again. We have a saying in the DC-Maryland area that goes something like this: "If you don't like the weather, just wait..." The meaning of course is that the weather here is infamous for changing drastically at a moment's notice. Monday could be 75% and sunny, but that doesn't mean we won't be hit with a freak snow fall on Tuesday. You just never know... Trying to guess the weather here is like trying to throw darts with you lelft hand... after you've downed a dozen or so beers.

So no, I was not counting on the sun making an all day appearance.

Then I remembered something... Today was going to be one of the best Sports days of the year! Penn State was going to be playing in Michigan, USC was going to be playing in Notre Dame, and the baseball playoffs were going full force!

Forget going outside!

I'm going to be sitting right on my couch, eating chicken wings, playing video games, and watching college football... The thought alone made me let out a school girl giggle.

(By the way, you've never seen anyone multi-task like I can during a sporting event... I'm playing X-Box on one TV, switching between 3 games on the other TV, eating, and talking on the phone all at once. PLUS whenever football is on my wife can't go 3 minutes without asking a question... So there I am holding an X-Box controller, a TV remote, a cell-phone pressed to my ear, chicken wing in my mouth and trying to speak 2 languages at once! Not to mention I have to argue with my little sister to get off the computer every 20 minutes so I can check fantasy football scores... Somehow I'm still married.)

Anyway, I quickly forgot about the weather and put my mind on work and sports (not necessarily in that order). I had planned out the entire afternoon in my mind... Popeye's chicken, start with the Notre Dame-USC game, and use commercials to check up on the Penn State game. I figured one of those two games would be a blow out meaning I could switch that game with the Cardinals-Astro's game.

It was all setting up perfectly and before I knew it, it was time to go home.

I walked to my car and to my surprise the sun was still out in full force... It was as though the Summer had returned for one last encore performance.

"Too bad," I said as I walked to the car... Thoughts of Football and chicken dancing in my head.

I sat behind the wheel and turned the key in the ignition.

A young mother walked by pushing a stroller, two young kids straggling behind... They were headed to Baker Park, only a block away from my office.

Morena had been bugging me for the better part of a month to take her there and feed the ducks. They would be flying south soon.

"Not today Joel," I told myself... Not on the best sports day of the year.

As I drove the 5 or so minutes back to the house I thought about the situation. Morena had been stuck in the house all week long. It had rained EVERY day, so she couldn't even go for a walk.

Of course today, while I was at work she was no doubt cleaning the whole house... And really, how many more nice days were left before the ducks flew south? I felt the guilt surge through my body. "Stupid guilt!?!" I mumbled under my breath.

All I wanted to do was go home and zone out in front of the TV, but now my damn spousal guilt had gotten involved... I knew I was going to the park.

As bad as this sounds, I was now angry with the sun... "Why couldn't you have pulled this crap during the week when there are no games!"

But any disappointment that lingered was wiped away when I saw the joy on Morena's face when I got home and asked her if she wanted to go to the park... Well, actually her initial reaction was disbelief, and a look the said "What's the catch?"... But after that initial look, trust me there was joy.

So off we went. We drove back to my work to park the car and grab the office camera.

We walked around the lake... We watched the ducks... We talked... We read our books. The young mother with the stroller and the kids walked by. I tried to explain to Morena that she was to thank for our visit, but she was to distracted by duckling that had walked up to her in search of bread crumbs.

We had previously been to Baker Park on July 4th, to watch the fireworks but there were thousands of people there so it wasn't very intimate. Aside from that visit I hadn't been since I was a kid.

I had forgotten how big it was. We followed the creek that ran parallel, admiring all the big beautiful houses that overlooked the park and thought, "Maybe one day."

Not once did I even think about the games I was missing... (okay that's a lie, I called Moe Green for a score update, but only once!)

As we were getting ready to go home I got a call from my sister and her friend Alana. They were at "Rita's Italian Ice" which is across the street from my office. They picked us up a couple of Mango Gelatti's and we all sat at my desk shooting the breeze, and laughing at Alana. (She had just recently showed up to homecoming in a dress that 3 other girls were wearing... She didn't find it quite as funny as I did though, go figure).

The thought that I could go home right now and still catch most of the second half of the games did occur to me, but Morena looked so content eating her Gelatti and listening to our English jibber-jabber.

So I didn't rush anything, I let the conversation come to a natural conclusion... And that's when fate intervened.

It was almost as if all of my good deeds of the afternoon had paid off and I was rewarded. I was so sure that both the Penn State, and Notre Dame games would be long over by the time we got home... but low and behold, I turned on the TV and both games were just entering the 4th quarter. Plus the Astro's had a firm grip on victory versus the Card's allowing me to concentrate on flipping between the two college games.

That's when I entered "the zone"... I some how managed to flip back and forth between the two games with unimaginable timing. It was a Michael Jordan-esque performance from me, a Hall of Fame Couch Potato.

I was able to see every big play in each game including the dramatic finishes in both games. Plus Morena was some how able to watch it all unfold without asking any distracting questions.

Even though she doesn't quite "get" American Football, she is able to sense the drama and pageantry of it all. She even let out a big "Nooooooooo!" when Matt Leinhart dove into the endzone for the last second TD that defeated Fighting Irish.

All in all, it was a good day. Morena was happy, I felt like a good husband, I got to see the end of two GREAT football games, and my mom even brought home carry-out Oliver Garden! (Two words, Fried-Calamari...)

I guess you could say I got to have my cake and eat it too... Or better yet, I got to have my calamari and eat it too!

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Will this was happening...





















This was happening...













...and that's okay!