Every summer as a kid my dad would buy tickets for us to see the Red Sox at minimum once a month. Our family would pile into the Oldsmobile wagon, park in the same Stop and Shop parking lot just a few blocks away, weave through the crowded streets and enter Fenway. We’d grab the program so we could complete the box score, my dad would venture out to find me “wingdings” because I didn’t want a hot dog (I think he enjoyed that inconvenient walk with a beer - just sayin’) and we’d sit back and enjoy the game as a family in the summer heat. At the beginning of this summer, I had hopes of bringing Gavin to his first baseball game. And while the season is not over, with covid and parks at capacity again I am not sure that dream will be fulfilled. But baseball will be here next year…
In fact, I had a lot of dreams/plans for this summer. Some fulfilled and some not. The to-do list is always so lofty and it’s so easy to get lost in the hours of a quiet day at home. The last few weeks I have been acutely aware of my own personal need to use these weeks off to charge myself for the coming year. I can easily spend days on end in my home, alone, catching up on shows, books, and working out. Then a few days in I realize a week has gone by with little human contact and I fill up my calendar for the following week trying to see all those that will be more difficult to connect with during September. Lunches, hikes, overdue phone calls, trips to the pool (thanks @resortpass) fill my days and exhaust me. The balance of these two approaches is what will hopefully give me the boost/charge/energy to embrace the year ahead. This one sure appears to have challenges that may be different but not necessarily less exhausting than last year.
With only one week in summer remaining, I am doing a lot of reflection too. Last week, I sat down and watched a portion of that Field of Dreams game. It made me nostalgic for summer as a kid. I recall when the movie came out and watching it with friends and family. It made me long for baseball games in the summer heat, wingdings, Fenway Park, Boston accents, and the chance to catch something spectacular on a summer night (like that night we watched the Twins turn 2 triple plays in one game, 1990) alongside my Janiak crew.
MLB did an impressive job with the opening of the game. Certainly easy to get teary-eyed as I recalled the movie itself. A quote shared by fellow educator, mentor, and friend Steve Mandell had me thinking about the game, life, current state of the world, and specifically schools amidst Covid.
"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game; it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again. Oh…people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come."
It’s gonna be another hard year in school. Guidelines and structures will continue to evolve. Aspects of school from 2019 will continue to be missed. We will long for what used to be and continue to dream up what the future can look like. The teachers will come. The students will come. The smiles will be had. The learning will continue. If you build it, they will come… I am well rested and I think it’s gonna be alright!
PS
The Yankees lost…