Chelmsford, MA
10:25 AM
I am sitting at the dining room table of my Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary’s condo in Chelmsford (north of Boston), MA. It’s a rainy Sunday as Charley has made his way up to town. He’s not hitting like he did in Florida but I still wish he’d get out of here. I was supposed to be in Martha’s Vineyard this weekend. I pushed it back because of the expected rain. I may push it back again because its %80 chance today and tomorrow. You don’t want to be at Martha’s Vineyard in the rain.
I may go with UB & AM to their sail boat in Boston Harbor. But, it’s raining. We’ll see what happens.
It’s been a good weekend. They were gracious enough to give me their condo while they are on the boat, so it’s just been me. All of the travel and staying with people has been great, but I will say it’s been nice to have a house to myself. I can wake up when I want and walk around how I want and all of that. I did some laundry yesterday. I also had my fantasy football draft. It went OK. We did a keeper league (which I don’t like. New season, new team). My team from last year stunk (last place). I had no one to keep. Some guys kept Jamal Lewis, Peyton Manning, etc.. and here I am keeping Eric Moulds. Oh boy. And it didn’t make sense the last place team got the 9th pick in the draft. I don’t like it now, but once the first games start it will be awesome to be involved.
My team is OK:
Marc Bulger, QB
Fred Taylor, RB
Marshall Faulk, RB – I need these guys to stay healthy
Eric Moulds, WR
Steve Smith, WR
#3 up in the air – Charles Rogers, WR
or Ashley Lelie, WR
Dallas, D
Adam Vinateri, K
Enough of that. Almost, I’m watching the golf as well. I’m in second place by 2 and could really use an overall win/cash.
I got into town late Friday afternoon. I finally left the comforts of Ginny’s and Michael’s and made my way to Avon, CT. I was meeting with a guy who was in the book industry. I didn’t know too much more than that. It turned out he was guy who had been in sales and marketing (longer and higher achiever than I) who left and began writing. Now he has 17 books published and helps out independent writers get their books to market. He was a great guy and a big help to talk to.
As I made the drive to Avon I saw a sign for Bristol, CT. If you are a male with any notion for sports, you know what that means. Dada, dada. ESPN’s headquarters. I of course had to check it out. I just wanted a picture, but as I made my way I wanted more than that. I wanted an interview with the Boomer, or Stuart Scott, or Dan Patrick. I had an elaborate scheme concocted in my head where I would woo the secretary with my charm and story and then walk into the newsroom, meet the guys, interview one of them, get my name mentioned on the air, and take off like a rocket. Instead, I met the security guy and he wouldn’t let me in. I had to settle for a picture.
I made the drive to Boston in good time. I dropped off my things in the nice, three level condo, called my cousin Kelle, and made my way to her house. I had not seen her since my Nana’s funeral. I had never met her husband. I hadn’t seen Sean in 5 years and Lindsay I saw over the summer (merry go round pictures). I arrived to see my family. It was great to meet Tod. We shook hands and handed me a Pete’s Wicked Ale. Good stuff. We talked about sports, the kids, and my travels. Kelle is a great cook and she made a phenomenal chicken parm dish. We had some wine and caught up. It was a good time and we laughed a lot. They introduced me to some music that I really liked and they even gave me a CD of John Prine. He started back in the Dylan era and is still playing today. I got to see a DVD of Sean’s hockey. He’s 7 but he’s fast and can score. I wished I could’ve seen a game. We stayed up pretty late talking and watching the Patriots preseason game and the Red Sox. I’m hoping to come back and go to Fenway Park. My eyes were heavy because of my busy day and I left at about 11:30. I told myself I was sleeping in. I woke up at 8:15.
I told you about laundry and football. I also worked on emails and some work stuff. They are talking about taking my contract work away. I was working on a proposal to be able to stay on with them. We’ll see. I like it and would like to continue doing it and my output has been good, but we’ll see. I need it.
After the draft I headed over to my other cousins, Cheri, house. She lives about 20 minutes from here. I hadn’t seen Jim, her husband, or the boys, Dan and Jon, in maybe 5 years. They had grown up. I don’t want to mess it up, but Dan is 12 and Jon is 9. They are cool kids. I played Game Cube with Dan and learned a lot about a card game which I can’t remember what it’s called. I’ll fill it in here when I remember ( ). There were so many details to the game. Jon rattled off this rule and what this card did. I got some of it, but a lot of it went over me. Dan and his dad kicked my butt in the Game Cube. We played a battle game and Mario racing. I was better at the racing and that’s not saying much. It was great to see all of them and their huge house. They’ve done a lot of work to it. The men were working on building this elaborate tree fort when I got there. I can’t wait to see the finished product. We grilled some burgers and had strawberry shortcake for desert, good choice by Dan.
I’ve talked about distance before. But it really stinks that I never get to see this part of my family. Once every few years is not enough. Kids grow up fast. They don’t know me and I don’t know them. After being with Ginny and her family who gets together almost every weekend, it makes me sad that my family is so spread out. We are where we are. I’m not moving here and I’m guessing they aren’t moving wherever I end up, so we play the cards we have. I’m lucky to have been able to see them. I left at about 11 and made my way back through the dark, windy roads of Grouton. I thought I was lost a few times but Jim’s directions were perfect. I again said I was sleeping in. I made it to 8:30 this time. And, here I am, typing away working on this and work stuff. A great weekend. TBD where I end up for the next few days. I do know I’ll be in Maine on Wednesday. Can’t wait for that.