Sunday June 15, 2008

It's Father's Day and I am very fortunate to be able to wish my father greetings.  It seems the older I get the more I appreciate where I came from.  Perhaps it is because I have many students that have families that are less than supportive let alone loving. My nuclear family consists of 8.  I have two parents that have been married for 55 years and both are still in good health.  I have 5 brothers, one older and the other 4 are younger.  Yes, for those of you with logical reasoning skills that makes me the only girl.  To answer the next question.  NO I was not spoiled.  I have a husband, step-daughter (she attends another Iowa university), and three dogs. I have been an educator for 16 years, except for the last two years I taught in the Catholic School System in Waterloo.  I am currently an 8th grade reading teacher in Creston.

An experience that I have had that is unique would have to be how I spent the summer of 1999.  We called it the Millenium Tour.  My husband and our friends, George and Cathy Pickup, went to a baseball game at all 30 major league baseball parks.  We also went to Cooperstown and saw the Induction of George Brett and Robin Yount.  There were two main things we considered before taking this trip.  Would it be logistically possible?  Would we be able to afford it? In 1998 my husband did a trial schedule to see if  it was even possible.  Yes, we could do it.  Since we lived in Waterloo at the time we could attend several games before school got out for the year.  We spent all but about three weeks from June 3 to August 10 on the road.  As far as the cost of the trip, we took advantage of any acquaintance we had.  We even stayed with a couple in Connecticut that we hadn't even met.  My husband belongs to a Baseball Card Collectors Club and he met them on line.  If there wasn't anyone we knew to stay with we camped.  We even got free tickets from 5 teams.  We traveled by van and gas at that time was about $1.25 a gallon.  I have always been a fan of baseball, but this has made baseball a part of my family.  I feel like I'm going home whenever I spend time in a baseball park.  Go RED SOX!!!!