Mum's the Word

MOTHER'S DAY: I know it's not ever mom's dream, but for me, there are few places I'd rather be on Mother's Day than the ballpark. And so, that's where we were on that special Sunday, with seats right behind home plate!

CJ was working the game, of course, so at one point I walked to the opposite side of the stadium to get him his favorite concession stand food, a burger from Lil Woody's, and say 'hi' to him while he had his lunch break.

It was an extra special Mother's Day for one mom, the mother of Mariners' rookie pitcher George Kirby. Kirby, 24 and from Rye, New York, made his first ever Major League Baseball start on Mother's Day, and his parents and a whole bunch of friends were sitting right behind home plate. In this crowd shot, if you look in the center, in the shadow, you can see a cameraman with a glowing light on his camera, which was pointed right at the Kirby rooting section.

Here's a brief video about Kirby getting notice of his "call up."

PRIDE TIME: One of the Mother's Day presents I received was a new pair of Doc Martens from Rick and Rachel, down in Vegas. They're part of Martens' pride line of shoes, which you can probably deduce from the stripes on the side, near the heel.

I thought the shoes would look even more pride-full with some rainbow laces.

So, I found some lace replacements on Amazon. They were perfect! The company, ULace, has all sorts of fun lace replacements. (You may have seen U-Lace on Shark Tank back in 2014.)

Annabelle just happened to match the shoes when she installed the lace replacements.

A PROMISE KEPT:  A few days before Mother's Day, I made sure to keep a promise I'd made to a friend, Jan. She was my supervisor when I worked for the Employment Security Department for a few years back around 2000. She was a strong, smart, kind woman who, sadly, succumbed to nasty cancer in December of last year, gone way too soon. 

Jan was a wonderful mother to a son she adopted as a single parent. My son Kennedy even babysat Jan's son one summer way back when. 

When I knew Jan's days were few, I was desperately thinking of a way to do something for her. I knew being a mother meant the world to her, so I thought maybe the best thing I could do is help her son remember he was loved and how great his mom was, so I got the idea to send him a card and a little pick me up once a year. I pitched my idea to Jan, and she loved it. I asked her which day of the year she'd like me to send it, and suggested his birthday, her birthday, his adoption day, or maybe Mother's Day. She *loved* the idea of a Mother's Day remembrance, and so that's what I did this year and will continue to do as long as I'm still kicking.