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Sunday, October 9th, 2005
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12:46p - So good, so good, so good
Well, it was a great year for the Red Sox. I'm not anywhere near as devasted as I was in '03. This wasn't a typical ugly loss. This year saw excellent teams running neck and neck in a close race in which I think they can be proud to have come this far in. The White Sox have done an amazing job and I'm looking forward to seeing them grab a Series. They deserve it.
I was dreading the same, familiar sick feeling if the Red Sox were to lose this year, but it never came. I guess last year's catharsis purged all that. I don't know if I can explain - in Boston, even if you weren't always a big baseball fan, Red Sox Nation creeps into your consciousness as you grow up. You might not be paying attention to the season and you might think you don't care, but with every step forward, a small part of your mind lets you start to believe. Back when I would have sworn that I didn't give a shit about baseball, my heart still broke a little every time they characteristically (at least, characteristic of yesteryear) dropped the ball on a season of promise. You learned quickly that growing up Boston was a death of a thousand broken promises. But every year, that letdown drew me to pay a little more attention. To keep after the scores and learn how to follow the standings. The agony increased with the caring and the caring increased with the agony. It was the dark side of devotion. And me, still very much a newcomer to the fold...the intensity with which a lifetime devotee feels it must be staggering.
But this year, it was actually all okay. Still, it has to be said:
I'm leaving for Baghdad tomorrow. I'd drop an insightful paragraph or two, but I'm still trying to pack my shit. If there's one thing the military has taught me, it's that I can pack my entire life away in one day if I really need to. I've moved my entire life seven times just in the three years I've been in the military. Eleven times if you go back to 1999. I've been on fourteen planes in the past five months. I'll be on six more in the next three days (here to Santa Maria, to Baltimore, to Ramstein, to Bahrain, to Qatar, to Baghdad). I'll drop a line as soon as I get settled.
current mood:  pensive
current music: the new Atmosphere
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