Day 298: Expectations/Family Support

Today is a day when I’m having trouble deciding about a choice. (A NOT unusual circumstance, for me.)

The choice is the title of this blog post.

Should I call it “Expectations”?

Why would I want to call it that? Because in BOTH therapy groups I facilitated yesterday, the first theme that people noticed was “Expectations.”  (In one of the groups, the follow-up/shadow of expectations — disappointment —  was also immediately identified.)

That’s kind of an amazing coincidence isn’t it?  Two totally different groups of people, and — BAM! — the first theme people identify is the same one.

The other title I was considering was “Family Support.”

Why that title? For one thing, I received some photos from my sister this morning,  which she took at the World Series game we attended, two nights ago.

My sister is a good photographer.  For proof of that, here are some of the shots she sent me . And, if you read yesterday’s post,  “My World Series Report,” you’ll see that these photos are great support for the way I told the story about the game.

Photos of Carl Yastrzemski:

Photos of Wally the Green Monster:

Photos of some action on the field (the excellent Red Sox pitcher, Jon Lester):

As I prepare to end this blog post, things that feel unfinished:

1. If any of my readers are wondering, “What’s the deal with the beards?” here’s an article about that, from the Boston Globe.*
2. I’m going to drag out something I haven’t used here in a while — the copyright symbol — to protect my sister’s fine photos.
3. I’ve made my decision about the title of the post.

Okay!

Thanks to my sister and Yaz (again), to  Jon Lester, to Green Monsters everywhere,  to people sporting different types of facial hair, to deciders and non-deciders, and to you, of course, for reading today.

©  2013  Ellen Koplow (for photos), All Rights Reserved

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* I hope you can read that article, from the Boston Globe,  no matter where or when you’re reading this post. If not, you might have more luck with this article, from theweek.com.

Day 297: My World Series Report

Hello, sports fans,

I was at the first game of the World Series last night, with my home team, the Boston Red Sox, and their oft-played World Series competitors, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Yes, I  well remember the 1967 match up between these two teams:

That was the year when I first fell in love with the game of baseball, and with the local team.

My hero, that year, was Carl Yastrzemski. In Yaz, I saw a lot of attributes that I admired:

• Humble
• Team-oriented
• Hard working
• Kind

That’s the way that Captain Carl appeared to me and (I think) to almost everybody.

I saw Yaz at the game last night!

First, here:

It was nice to see Yaz, last night, looking so spiffy and getting the admiration he deserves.

Then, I saw him again!

I was thrilled when I heard that Yaz was going to throw out the first pitch of the game last night.

At the moment, I don’t have any photos to show you of that.  Maybe I’ll insert one, later.

When I did a Google Images search, right now, on “Yaz first pitch,” I did find some photos that seemed to fit the bill:

(see here, regarding that photo)

(Google attribution: http://boston.cbslocal.com.)

However, those were both photos from an earlier time.

In any case, I was thrilled  to see Yaz, on the field, looking so spiffy and getting the admiration he deserves.

I didn’t take any photos of Yaz on the field, last night, because (1) my phone was running out of power and (2) I figured there would be lots of photos of this, elsewhere.

Here are some more photos I WAS able to take last night, before my phone went dark:

I love the look of Fenway Park.  John Updike once described it as a “lyric little bandbox of a ballpark” (a description I adore) (although I always forget the word “lyric”).

My sister and I got to the park really early, last night. After we got to our seats, we met Liz and Fred, from California:

It was great to talk to them.  They both come from California. Liz was in town for a conference, and she managed to get these tickets and surprise Fred with them!  I quickly took their picture, as soon as I heard that Fred had taken the red eye from California last night to get to the game.  Here are some things we found out about them:

1. Fred loves the game of baseball, no matter who is playing.
2. Liz is a psychotherapist, who uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

I hope Liz and Fred like that photo (even though it’s blurry).

As for our dining experiences last night, we focused on items that were tried and true, and warming. First, my sister recommended that we visit the best place in the park to get hot dogs. Here’s our chef and maitre d:

Our compliments to him!

On our way back to our seats, I noticed an interesting hat, so I asked the owner if I could take a quick photo. She graciously agreed:

That’s Wally, the Green Monster (the Red Sox mascot). He was definitely looking good, up there.

Later in the game, the real Wally walked right by us and posed with many happy fans.

However, I couldn’t capture that. My phone was long gone.

It’s time to wrap up this post, dear readers, with my last photo of the night.

Wait!  When I just took another look at my camera roll, I discovered that  my memory was quite faulty, there.

That makes sense, what with all the excitement (and maybe some anxiety I was having, about my phone dying, etc).

Here are the facts: I took a few more shots, before I lost power:

It’s Captain Carl!!

Thanks to Carl Yastrzemski, heroes and team players everywhere, lovers of baseball, and to you, especially, for visiting today.

Day 267: Other people’s experience

One of the first “complex” thoughts I can remember having, when I was small, was wondering about other people’s experience.

What would it be like to be her? Or him? Or that person, over there?

If I could magically be transported into another person’s experience, what would the differences be ?  Would it be startlingly different?  Similar?

And I realized, back then, I’ll never know, for sure.

But I’m still curious.

And I’m conscious of that inescapable limitation — of never really knowing another person’s experience — and how it naturally colors everything I perceive.

I’m grateful that I get to witness, every day, people doing the best they can — despite those limitations — to understand somebody else well enough, in order to connect in some way.

Each day, I witness that urge to connect with other people, with other creatures, with some experience of beauty, and with attempts to make meaning.

I experience that here, in the blogosphere, and there, in the non-blogosphere.

Connections.

They help, I think.

Whether it’s connecting because of a beloved local sports figure:

Or, connecting because of a shared moment of whimsy:

It helps.

I have no idea who placed that bird on that plant outside my office, but I’m so glad that person is out there (having his or her own experience).

Thanks to Carl Yastrzemski, to fans of all kinds, and to you, for experiencing this post today.