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Love one another and you will be happy.  It’s as simple and as difficult as that.
— Michael Leunig

1. This recent picture of me and David, taken in Atlanta:

2. This totally rad “Bottle Opener With Cap Catcher” that we bought at the Coca-Cola Store in Atlanta:

3. This guy:

That’s my old cat, Chaplin.  We found him when he was a tiny kitten, abandoned by his mama.  He died a couple of years ago, of natural causes, underneath a bush at my parents house; he was probably 15 or so.  Do you see he has extra toes on his two front paws?  Isn’t he so handsome?  I loved him.

What’s making you happy today?

That’s baseball, and it’s my game.  Y’know, you take your worries to the game and you leave ’em there.  You yell like crazy for your guys.  It’s good for your lungs, it gives you a lift, and nobody calls the cops.  Pretty girls, lots of ’em.
— Humphrey Bogart

So remember this?  My little story from about a year ago about watching my Braves collapse yet again while I’m in attendance?  Yeah, it nearly happened again Friday night in Atlanta.  The tickets and trip were my birthday present from David; I’ve longed to see the Braves play in Atlanta, so he made it happen.

We flew in Friday afternoon and headed to the stadium around 5:30.  As you can tell by the picture, the weather was looking ominous; I wasn’t even sure they’d get to play at all.  Derek Lowe, the Braves’ new ace, was on the mound for the home opener, and he’d recorded 5 strikeouts through three innings and the Braves were up 3-1.  After two pitches in the top of the 4th, the game was delayed due to rain.  And then hail.  And then the left field grass flooded.  And then it poured some more.

But the rain let up and the super-awesome grounds crew went to work, and after more than two hours, play resumed at around 10:40.  I don’t remember many of the details, except that in the top of the 9th inning, with the Braves leading 5-4, our closer – why can we not find a decent closer? – gave up the tying run (after the relievers had already allowed three additional runs prior to that).  I’m not going to lie:  I teared up.  No actual tears fell, but it was close.

You have no idea how into this game I was.  I love these boys, and I rise and fall with them all season long.  And being at Turner Field for the home opener felt a little like coming home – I had my McCann jersey on, and my hat, and for the first time ever, I got to do the Tomahawk Chop – in person – with 40,000 other people.  That was amazing.  And having never seen them win in person, I was *this* close, and it felt like it was slipping away.

I was on edge the rest of the inning til they got the third out.  I couldn’t Chop with the rest of the fans or yell or cheer – I was standing, bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet with my hands over my face, barely breathing.

We couldn’t get a run in the bottom of the ninth, so we went into extra innings.  We managed to hold them in the 10th, but just barely.  David and I had moved down to about 20 rows from the field by now, and being so close to the action was exhilarating.  When Schafer hit his single in the 10th, I screamed like a lunatic.  When he got bunted over to second by the pinch hitter, I yelled and cheered.  When Johnson hit a line drive just over the infielders’ heads, I screamed wildly as Shafer raced around third and headed for home.  When he slid into home plate and the umpire signaled he was safe, I lost my mind, jumping up and down, whooping.  And then a tear or two really did escape:  They’d done it; they’d finally done it!  David was looking at me with the biggest smile on his face – knowing how happy I was made him happy.

At 1:26 in the morning on Saturday, my wish came true.  I could not have been more excited.  As we exited the stadium, the fans started another round of the Tomahawk Chop, and I joined in at the top of my lungs, thrilled to be a part of something so much bigger than I am: Braves fandom.

A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed.  It feels an impulsion; this is the place to go now.  But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons.
— Richard Bach

This is what the sky looked like on my walk on Thursday afternoon:

Every time I see a sky like this, I can’t help but think of the opening credits of The Simpsons – I call it a cartoon-blue sky.

(Why, why, why does nothing ever embed anymore, even when I put the video code in in html view?  Boo.)

I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.
— Vincent VanGogh

David called me downstairs sometime after 11 last night because he thought he saw a fox on the balcony.  To be fair, he could only see the shadow of the critter’s head at first, but it was obviously not a fox on the third floor balcony, but this little guy:

Raccoon on balcony 4/9/09.

He left about 10 minutes after we spotted him, shimmying down the corner pole.  He didn’t seem to do much (even when we weren’t shining a spotlight on him), and I hope he doesn’t do any damage to our plants.  What do raccoons eat, anyway?

* You should see the movie with this name – it is excellent, and I kind of fell in love with Richard Jenkins a little bit.

Medicine is the only profession that labours incessantly to destroy the reason for its own existence.
— James Bryce

1. When the doctor’s office is running on time.

2. Colors by Benetton (I’ve been wearing this perfume since high school, with the occasional break for something from Clinique, but this is, without a doubt, “my” scent.  Someone once said it was time to move on if I’ve been wearing it since high school, as if I might have grown out of it, but let me tell you: I’ve gotten a ridiculous number of compliments on it, and the smell makes me happy, so I’m sticking with it.)

3. Knowing you’re good at what you do.

What are you happy about or thankful for today?