So as you can see we just spent the weekend in Arizona for Dodger spring training. It was an amazing adventure, even with the fiasco that started the whole trip! I look back at this past weekend and it really makes me reflect on life and family as a whole. I'll get to that in a bit.
So about the weekend. It was a blast! Getting to see the players up close and in your face, Tommy Lasorda cruising by on a golf cart, and even meeting a players wife at a random Starbucks (Red Patterson's wife). I've never seen so much excitement radiate off a person until i saw Joey get his first ball signed by a player. You would have thought that he just won the lottery. Some of the players were jerks, and refused to sign stuff, and some just stuck to one side of the line and skipped over joey, but that's OK. We took this trip as a learning experience and know EXACTLY what to do next year to make it more beneficial for us. Our hotel was Posh!! 5 star resort and spa in Scottsdale, which it better be since we had a huge issue with our hotel to begin with.
We drove around to different areas of Arizona that were of some interest to us. I must say i enjoyed Tempe. Seeing ASU was incredible. Such a pretty place. And then we cruised through Mesa, Gilbert and Chandler. All very nice areas.
The games were awesome! The Fields were incredible and the people were pretty great. We sat 5 rows from the field, and i could almost squeeze Ethiers tush!! It was neat because you could tell that with spring training they knew it was time for practice, but they also would be out in center field before the games shooting the shit with the other teams players. It was a great experience and i can't wait until next year.
So on to the other part of this ride.....family
My family is quite....well....different i guess you could say. It's a big family. But my immediate family (my parents, brothers and sisters) are pretty awesome. This weekend brought me an abundance of emotions, happiness, jealousy, elation and exhaustion.
Not a whole lot of people get to spend time with their families like i do. I'm lucky that my parents have lived in the same city for their entire lives, and therefore, so have I. There have only been a handful of sports games that they've missed in the 7 years joey has been playing sports. It's pretty incredible if you ask me.
So with this weekend brought a bunch of reflection time about family. As I'm sitting at the pool watching my little brother with my kids it genuinely warms my heart and at the same time gives me a little ping of jealousy. My aunts and uncles didn't do those things with me when i was little, and still don't now that I'm an adult. I don't get invited to the movies, dinner, or happy hour. Just when it's someones birthday is when you hear from them. Oh well. But i look at my kids and I'm so thankful that they won't have to have those feelings. They have an uncle who wrestles on the floor with them, who does puzzles with them, helps with homework and even takes them to the movies. An uncle that doesn't miss a sporting event or school play. My kids are so very lucky to have an uncle like that. He's not just "Uncle", he's the "FUN-cle".
Then it gets me into my mom. My mom is an amazing person. She would give you the shirt off her back in a second if you said you needed it. And this past weekend proved me right once again. She's not only an amazing mom, but an even more amazing grandma. Watching her with my 2 boys makes me smile. Seeing my boys get so excited to see grandma, to want to run up and give her hugs and kisses is the best sight for these eyes. She had a great role model for grandparents and i know she strives to be like them, and i must say, she's right on par. I can only hope that when i eventually become a grandma I'm half the grandma is she. Again my kids are so incredibly lucky.
So i guess you could say that even though i myself don't have all that great of a relationship with my extended family, I'm so elated that my children have outstanding relationships with theirs. and I'm so glad that my parents and siblings are willing to put themselves aside for just a few moments to make these kids feel important. Life is too short to be consumed with yourself all the time. Believe it or not there are other people out there who are missing out on great memories and experiences because of your self consumption.
So thanks for being awesome! I myself and my children appreciate it.
And again thanks so much for such an incredible weekend!!! So many great memories were had!
GO DODGER BLUE!!!
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