2010 & 2011 can Kiss My Grits

I took this picture with my dumb phone while at the beach with a high school group of friends this summer...a few days before finding out my Mom had cancer. It was a relaxing weekend and being at the beach I constantly thought of my Mom as it was something she loved.  The beach can be so calming listening to the waves roll in one after the other...the clean salt smell reminds me of learning how to float in the ocean with her.   I've saved the photo as the background on my phone and laptop and think of her words when we would seem sad about her disease..."We're going to take it One Day At a Time".  Lately, that's what I've been having to do.  So many other things going on in my private life that not everyone is aware of and I'd like to keep it that way for now but taking it one day at a time is all I can do.  I miss my Mama very much and dreading the upcoming holidays. For the last year (and that includes the end of 2010), it's been a wash. I usually try and can find the good things in bad....but this time, I just can't.  Yes, I'm alive. I have some people in my life who are supportive of me.  I enjoy helping the inmates I work with. I enjoy volunteering with GENAustin.  But for the record, I'd like to just go on to New Years Day 2012 so I can tell 2011 and this past year goodbye and good riddance. 

Lone Star State of Mine

Lone Star Beer
Lone Star Boys
Lone Star Baseball
Lone Star Beckett
Lone Star in Boston
I love my state. I love Boston. I love baseball.

I'm happy for Wake and his 200 but today....this made me smile more.

Not Just Any Woman

A woman passed on today but she won't be forgotten because she's not just any woman. Every time I hear a loud whistle, see a ocean wave, hear someone sing to the top of their lungs, see a purple outfit, eat a bowl of Bluebell, watch a baby laugh, and smell a good pot of gumbo I will think of her. Of course those aren't the only times...she blessed me with so much love and compassion for others that it's not a surprise what career I chose. And as much time and energy as she spent on trying to keep me in Orange...it's funny to know she still did her last ditch effort at bringing me back. You see, I had left for Austin to return to work...only to receive a phone call on the other side of Houston that I needed to return as she had gotten much worse....few minutes later another phone call and she was gone....so here I am back in Orange, Mom. Missing you.

Love in Action

My dear sweet mother is dying right before our eyes.  Since getting the news, it's been a roller coaster of emotions.  You go through denial and anger then denial again then anger once again then frustration...but with her health going downhill rapidly this past week while I was in Austin, I wasn't able to talk more to her.  In a matter of weeks, she's declined in her health but since last Sunday...no words can describe how hard this is to see.  A woman who loves so hard with her heart to be stricken with something so heartless.  I'm trying to make sense of this all as it was not caught in the early stages so we're losing her quickly and I'm not quite ready for her to go.  She has taught me more about loving than anyone I know.  Her heart is as big as Texas...maybe even bigger.  Alot of people talk about being a Christian and living godly but I've always said "Actions speak louder than words"  as well as "Talk is cheap".   My mother didn't have to preach it....she acted on it.  She taught me to reach out and help others, to give everyone the benefit of doubt, and that everyone deserved a second or third or fourth chance.  I believe I chose my career path because of the values that my mother instilled in me.  I know she's proud of me....she told me many times especially this past year.  Before I left for Austin last Sunday as I was telling her goodbye, she reached out for my hand and said "I want to pray for you"  My mom prayed for things to go well on my new job and that it would be good for me.  I'm going to miss her

Moving ON UP....on the East Side

***all pictures taken off of Boston Globe used without permission***

On Monday, we were in Last Place.  Today we're in 3rd....the boys are on a west coast swang thang and hitting it hard.  We've won 8 out of the last 9 games.....DiceK has went all GodZILLA on the teams and Jed Sox is leading us to freedom.  Muy Grande Winner Joshua Patrick is back...Joshy is gone.  Lester's getting closer to May and feeling good.  Heck even Carl's starting to hit.  Today Lackey is on the mound....facing whoever that team in Anaheim is.  Happy Easter to my fellow friends who Believe.  And Happy Sunday to those who don't.  Either way...I love all of you the same.  Now

Let's Play BALL                                                              AND WIN

***EDIT   Lackey stood strong today....SHUT OUT on the Angels 

Objects in the Mirror are Closer than they Appear

Dear American League East,

Tell 'em we're coming.....and Hell's coming with us. 


Sincerely,

Jed Lowrie and his Homies

We have an old saying in Delta House: Don't get Mad, Get Even

Last Year at SXSW, I attended this film....it's a movie about fraternity hazing gone wrong.  I know you're thinking Oh GREAT....some dorky Animal House wannabe but it is FAR from Animal House and I'd suggest if you get the chance to ever see it, DO.  But this poster for the film just really speaks to me about our boys...hazing is all about seeing how bad boys want into a fraternity....to what lengths will they go??  So maybe this whole losing streak is a hazing of sorts....to test them.....to test us....just how BAD do the Sox want it?  Do they want to win?  Do they WANT a pennant? or another World Series?   On paper they appear to the The Team to beat....but on the field they've been The team that GETS beat...senseless sometimes.  Yeah I know we took the Yankee series but there are about 5 more of those I think and if we continue like this, I'm not sure we'll take the rest of them.  We are 2-9.  TWO WON and NINE LOST!!!

But I'm going to remain faithful and keep watching and rooting for them. WHY?? Because they are MY Team.  They are YOUR Team.  The Red Sox are Boston's TEAM and we should be Behind them rooting for them.  You want to yell at someone???  Yell at your neighbors when they're slamming doors or playing their music too loud.  Yell at the idiots who cut you off or the cashier who shorts you your change.  Yell at Mother Nature for not bringing Spring early.  Yell at the dang jurors who didn't find Bonds guilty of ALL charges.  But do NOT YELL at the Red Sox or Boo Them.....Just ask them....HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT?