The Green Monster!

Those three words mean the the world to people from Boston. They represent our biggest disappointments, until last year, and now they mean our biggest victory..A victory we waited 86 years for. It was a wonderful feeling and put the people of Boston in a better mood for a while.
Well, last night I experienced the green monster, and I have to say it was just as breath taking as I could have imagined. Riding in on the "T" and feeling like a sweaty sardine, walking down Lansdown street with the smell of sausage, scalpers trying to sell and buy tickets...It really was all that I had every thought and heard of and more.
My first red sox game was when I was about 12 and my sister and her boyfriend took me. I have no idea who we played, who won, or where we sat, but I remember the whole feeling of it, and how much I liked it. The biggest thing I remember is the hot dogs and how there was no ketchup, but the hot dog tasted better than anything else I had ever tasted.
As I said, last night I went to my second game with Colin and I felt like I was 12 all over again. I was so excited to go that the day couldn't go by fast enough. Here is how it went:
Colin and I took the train in (which He hated because the train was so hot). I was armed with too much money, my cell phone and of course, my camera. We stepped off the train and immediately came across 2 scalper offering ALOT of money for tickets, but there was no way on Gods green earth I was going to give up my tickets. We walked with the crowds down to Lansdown street, picking up a program on the way, and got more and more excited with every step. When we hit Lansdown, we stopped at our first vender, and got sourviners...A green monster for Maddie, a bat for Colin, and a pink hat for Ari. Now that we got that out of the way, we were ready to go.
We finally found the correct gate (it was rather confusing) and I took a picture of colin at the gate, then one of him giving the guy his ticket (a true scrapbooking moment), and we were in. Colin being a first timer (as well as the cutest boy there) we got quite a bit of attention from the employees. We got to go up to the Green Monster...WOW! We went up what seemed to be a million stairs and saw the field from there, and all I could think was.."Holy crap, the field looks so much bigger on T.V.!!" lol! But, I was still very impressed. Colin wasn't because he wanted to get to our seats.
When we finally got to our seats, I realized we were super early, and I wondered how I was going to keep the boy busy. I then noticed I didn't have to, he was in awe. He said about 4 words to be in the hour we were sitting there. He was trying to take in the field, the people, the players who were practicing, and the vendors yelling. I was truly a surreal moment for me.
The game started and that is when He truly got to see red sox nation in action. We cheered and booed just like everyone else. We did the wave, got our fenway franks and popcorn,and made some new friends. Although there was a play that I didn't understand, so I called Pepere (because he knows everything) and got the low down. We saw Manny hit a 3 run homer, and we saw Nixon screaming on the field. It was a typical game.
We left in the 7th inning, because Colin started to get figity, and we started to make our way back to the train. On our way back, I saw a side to Colin that I had never seen. On our walk, we saw a homeless man asking for money. Colin wanted to know why he was doing that, so I told him. Well, he wanted to give him money, but since he didn't have any, he gave him a one of his baseball cards that came with his program. He did this again to another homeless man we saw, and then gave his pen (that he brought just in case for autographs) and gave it to another homeless man. I was so shocked that here is a boy who won't even share a cookie with his sister, but has compassion and wants to help other people. I was so proud of my boy!
We got home very late, and we all fell asleep about 20 seconds after hitting the pillow! We were so tired from all the cheering and booing. It was a night that I will never forget, and I know Colin will never forget either.
On another note, when I woke up this morning I found out that not only did we win, but we killed the rangers 16-5....I love my boys!

BILLS, BILLS, BILLS!!!!

ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! This has to be the worst word in the English language. What other word can make your skin crawl, make your stomach turn, and make you want to run for the hills. This is the reason we work, the reason we don't go out to dinner and the reason we don't buy the pair of jeans that make our butt look great!
It is a ritual for me when I get home from work, I close my eyes and pray to the money god that when I get my mail that there is none of those pretty envelopes with the nice red line on it. I am beginning to believe that there is no such god, because those are what I am staring at when I get the mail.
Oh, well, it is a way of life I guess, and hopefully one day I will actually enjoy getting the mail, but for now one thing is for sure....It is a good thing that I never see the postman, because I am liable to tackle him for putting me in such a bad mood every day!!!