I scroll for a while on YouTube, spacing out. Then something surprises me on my feed.
A minor league stream of the Davenport team buried on YouTube.
The camera angles are bad, and the audio is worse. So I lean forward slightly and watch.
The announcers are, honestly, hilarious.
“And it’s a high, high fly to left,” one says. “That’s going, going…wow. Well he didn’t hit it out. Not by a long shot. But Douglas has really been working on that swing as he flies out.”
“I tell you what, Greg, Douglas was an animal in batting practice today, an absolute animal. He’s twenty-three and he’s got a great swing. And he’s really looking fresh heading to the dugout there.”
“He’s gonna get some high-fives after that swing on an 0-2 count. That’s great baseball, Julio. Great baseball.”
“Greg, I tell you what, I think they’re the most exciting team in America right now.”
I chuckle. I love how they’re trying to make minor league baseball overly dramatic and interesting.
But I look up, and I’m still in an empty house. I think back on hanging with Jackson, playing whiffleball with those neighborhood kids. Sure, we didn’t have oceanfront views, but that was really livin’, if you ask me.
L-I-V-I-N.
Maybe I can get a dog. A puppy?
Something that greets you when you walk in, makes the place feel like something.
But I really can’t.
I’ll be gone 82 days out of the year for away games, and that’s definitely not fair to a dog.
So I guess it’ll just be me.
Me and Ray. Bros. Shortstop and third base.
I laugh again to myself.
Welcome to the big leagues, Wade. The dream is complete.
How does it feel?
I take a sip of my beer and let the quiet settle in again.
The ocean’s right there, and the sunset is starting so I head to my back patio to watch.
Just taking life as it comes.
Comes.
My mind flashes back to that concert in the rain. Speaking ofcoming…
And just like that, I’m getting turned on. Well, I haven’t gotten laid or even felt like rubbing one out, since Riverbend. And Cassie.
Cassie.
I actually laugh out loud. Great. Random phrases with the word ‘comes’ I’m thinking in my own mind are reminding me of her. Well, that’s just perfect.
I scroll through my phone, and I realize I don’t even have a single photo of the two of us. Imagine that. I was too busy enjoying life to snap a pic.
Plus…you don’t snap pics ofrebounds.
