Field of Dreams
This has been a weird week. There was some great baseball in the World Series and I even nailed the prediction for it. Just take a look back if you don’t believe me. I have never gone public with a World Series prediction and I am pretty pleased that my predictions were pretty good considering that I am neither the Prophet nor the Son of the Prophet. Neither am I infallible like the Pope being that I am just a miscreant Priest and member of the Church of Baseball, Harbor Park Parish where I have my season ticket in Section 102, Row B, Seat 2.
The Series was good for me, I really didn’t care who won, except that I predicted the Yankees in six based on match ups, statistics and numbers. I’m a Giants, A’s and Orioles fan and as I sit here in my O’s hat and sweatshirt I can honestly say that I didn’t have a dog in the fight. However to be right in analyzing the playoffs and World Series is pretty cool. Maybe someday I will be a real sportswriter or broadcaster and get to sit opposite Jay Mariotti and Woody Paige on Around the Horn.
However, the series helped distract me in some ways for my trip home to see what I can do to help my brother with my parents. I don’t look forward to the trip; the airports get to me now. Thankfully I’m not going through Atlanta or Washington Dulles. At least O’Hare has decent food and beer. I guess the thing that gets me the most about going home this time is that my mom wants me to help go through possessions, not paperwork. I’m thinking about years of memories that she has kept; family heirlooms and the just plain shit in some cases. The stuff really doesn’t matter to me but it will be taxing. Likewise the thought of seeing my dad again in his decrepit state, shrunken and mostly demented from Alzheimer’s disease is painful to think about.
Yesterday morning after my on call shift I went up for my weigh in. I gained 25 pounds since the spring, I knew that going in, I knew that I would not make the weight. Most of the weigh came from stopping by Krispy Kreme on the way home from Harbor Park, picking up a dozen hot and fresh glazed and downing 3-4 or more with a beer before going to bed. Of course the reason I did this was because I was emotionally spent, couldn’t sleep and couldn’t pull myself away from work. Add stress, anxiety, no sleep, overwork, bad diet and little exercise together and you get fat…well I get fat, I don’t know about you. This is the first time in 28 years in the military that I have been officially fat. I’ve always been close to the limit because the Deity Herself did not endue me with a couple of additional inches of height to help me as the military is run by the tall skinny mafia and the standards reflect that. Until yesterday I had always made it sometimes by the skin of my teeth, but always made it. When I was in better shape I would crush the physical fitness part of the assessment even if I was close to the weight limit. Today after sleeping through my alarm and barely making it in to work I did the Physical Readiness Test and despite having only done 3 sessions of PT since the end of April I did better than a lot of young people, I passed, not to my usually standard of near perfection, but passing. My diet has already been adjusted; my work schedule and duties have been rearranged to help me recover from Iraq and my return. I’m doing more supervisory and administrative work vice the heavy clinical work in ICU. This will give me the time that I need to do what I have not done since my return from Iraq that is to take care of me. So I do have a sense of humor about this, I’m not going to stay fat and I am going to get my physical edge back. I’m old but not done. After the weigh in I thought about the episode of Third Rock from the Sun where Dick Solomon, played by John Lithglow gets fat and joins a weight loss organization called the Fat Losers. I have included the links to the episode on You Tube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgP2h1x2EZc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x0kzALQPU4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2tYkwhqqxs
I will keep you abreast of my journey to take this off and turn myself into a bald version of Arnold. If anyone wants to take that journey with me let me know. We’ll be the real “Fat Losers” and kick some ass.
Grieving Soldiers at Fort Hood
The shooting at Fort Hood yesterday shook me and the Abbess pretty bad. For me it hit my sense of safety and security was rocked as a Moslem Army Major brutally attacked and killed 12 soldiers and an Army civilian and wounded 30 more soldiers. I’ve mentioned in my Fort Hood updates more about how it hit me so I won’t rehash that here except that I started emotionally melting down a bit as I watched the coverage which I could not let go of. I thought of friends that I know there and my times about Fort Hood when I was in the Army, and the thought that an officer who swore the same oath that I have committed such an atrocity in the name of his religion really got me. If he had been an enlisted man I think my reaction would have been different, somehow when I learned that it was an officer, a psychiatrist and a Moslem floored me. Frankly in my world officers don’t do this. Today I was able to get with Elmer the Shrink and talk. That helped. My boss and our deputy helped take care of me today and yesterday. On the way home I stopped by Harbor Park to take in the view of the field and relax. Thankfully the good folks in the office allow me to do this. It helped a lot.
My Field of Dreams: Harbor Park
After a nice dinner with the Abbess at Gordon Biersch I did what I almost always do after such a couple of days and retreated into the world of magic that is baseball. I put on For the Love of the Game and Field of Dreams. Somehow those help me. The lead character played by Kevin Costner, Billy Chapel pitches a perfect game and reminisces about his life and career. It reminds me of possibilities even for me and Field of Dreams reminds me of all that is good, even in spite of all the evil that the world. The baseball season may be over, but the game reaches me when nothing else can. I looked at the diamond surrounded by the cornfields and remember when I drove to Iowa and made the trip to Dyersville just to play catch on the Field of Dreams. I hope that when I go home that somehow I can help ease my dad’s pain in some way, and maybe just maybe have him back for a few minutes.
My last Visit with Dad in May
Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. Please keep praying for the victims and all those affected at Fort Hood. Pray that the violent and senseless act of Major Hasan will not beget more violence.
Peace,
Padre Steve+
The Inglorius Padre Steve's World 