July 31, 2009 Trading Deadline

Today was the baseball trading deadline and I didn’t get traded. I think my value dropped after I was spotted in my pool today.

I have always prided myself on looking and acting a little younger than I really am. I think it may just be that I am immature, but it certainly helps when you are trying to act younger.

However, I find that I am not as young as I would like to be anymore. When in the car with either of the boys, there is always a struggle as to what music we are going to listen to. I tend toward the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, while the boys tend to move in the direction of noise. I just don’t understand the popularity of the Hip Hop and Rap. I guess that I have gotten sensitive in my elder years, but there are more BLEEPS in this music than music.

To top that, you needed to see me in the pool this morning. I started walking the pool in the morning to get a little exercise. Since my feet hurt, I really can’t walk that much and because of the damage done to my bones by the myeloma, I’m not supposed to lift much. As a result, what was a spongy body to begin with has become sludge. The pool gives me an opportunity to walk without any foot problems and makes me use my arms to get through the five feet area.

However, because I have pretty much stayed out of the sun for months because of the sun sensitivity the chemo and other medications have caused, I was pretty much white as snow. That was until I started this pool walking. Since I spend almost an hour each day in the pool, I have started to tan, or should I say red. Because of that, I pulled out a hat and wore it in the pool on Thursday.

I have never been much of a hat guy. When I coached on Jason’s baseball teams over the years, I was always the guy that didn’t wear a hat. I also was the preppy dressed (dress shorts and collared shirt) guy, but that is a whole ‘nuther story. However, with the chrome dome that I now possess (by the way, when is this stuff going to grow back), I needed to do some protection. It just so happens that Jason returned from Columbus with a hat from Graeter’s, a present from my in-laws.

I tried it on the other day and kind of liked it, but one of Justin’s buddies saw it and referred to it as “an old man’s” hat. It has kind of a flatter top that a baseball hat, but I thought it was just fine.

The head wasn’t the only thing that was getting red, so I thought it would be a good idea to throw on a t-shirt this morning. I have never worn a t-shirt in a pool in my life, but in the secrecy of my back yard, I thought, “what the heck.” So now you add the “old man’s” hat to the mix and with these longer swimming suits, I am now covered almost from head to toe looking every bit of 75.

I may not have looked like an Olympic swimmer, but I managed to make 100 trips from one side of the pool to the other. You notice, there is no accompanying picture with this blog. I don’t want to blow my standing in the community just yet!