get back in the saddle.

After coming up for air from the first few days of the Olympics, we were off on vacation #2 with friends. The trip was baseball-intensive...a game every day, everyone in the car but me caring passionately about the game...so you know I didn't plan the trip. But I had to go. Can you detect a little bit of a pout? I really didn't want to go. First of all,the Olympics are on! (I missed a lot-but did get to see Phelps tie Spitz' record on the big scoreboard.) Second, hours of baseball talk-even recitations of lists of players read from press guides-passed the time as we drove. Third, nothing's more boring than being the only non-enthusiast in a group.

It isn't that I don't understand the game. I do. Pretty well, actually, due to spending hours and hours with fan #1 (otherwise known as husband), players, and many many umpires. I have had plays explained to me in restaurants using the table implements, I have listened to discussions of pitching strategies over cocktails, and spent whole games listening to talent scouts evaluate possibilities. In thirty years of marriage, only two trips have not included baseball in some way-our honeymoon, and our 25th anniversary long weekend. I appreciate the fine points-I just don't care.

I came to the reluctant conclusion that listening to my iPod would have been rude,and I occasionally introduced a different conversational subject...with limited success. But I did get two books read, and I kept my healthy eating resolution with no divergence. Added to my vitamin D levels, too.

Anyway-now home. Back to the last week before school starts-and I am all ready scheduled for 7 teaching days. Time to think about ironing clothes and packing lunches. I hate the heat of summer-but I love the pace.