Monday, April 04, 2005

Opening Day

Listening to: Handel, Water Music

Some people love Christmas or their birthday or the 4th of July and their anticipation for the arrival of that special day evidence of their love.

Today is opening day, the official start of Major League Baseball, my favorite day of the year. The past few weeks has been spent in anticipation of this day, foolishly following pre-season games, pulling my mitt out from underneath my matress and rubbing it down with oil, putting on my ancient, wool Oriole's cap and ruefully acknowledging the Sammy Sosa does not a season make.

For me, opening day is bigger than baseball (although the tradition of our national past time certainly adds to the mystique). Opening Day is about the windows open at the moment, the subtle fragrance of the blossoms on the apricot tree, birds flitting madly from branch to branch and busy with nest-building. Opening Day is a line in the sand announcing that winter is no longer welcome, that the time for renewal is now, that there is no looking back but only forward, to a future of popsicles and running in the sprinkler and sleeping under the stars. Opening Day is a reminder that the All-Star Game is still months away and the world is filled with endless possibility.

Zeke squealed with delight at his own harbinger of spring:

Zeke: An ant! An ant!
Me: Yeah, it's getting warmer, more ants will come in...
Zeke: Good! I love ants-es! I love ants-es!
Me: You love ants-es?
Zeke: Yeah. The ants-es hung'ee!

Zeke picked up the ant and pressed the creature into a blob of leftover banana. So much for the ants-es Opening Day. The rest of us are buzzing, however. We may need coats tomorrow but today, it's t-shirt weather and the apricot blossoms grow fuller and lovelier. The world awaits and welcomes us with a warm embrace.
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4 comments:

SeeingDouble said...

Orioles fan? I attended a game back in the late 90s at Camden Yards, Orioles vs. Giants. 14th row off the first baseline, you just can't beat that. I'm not a big fan of baseball anymore, I haven't been in a few years, though I'm not really sure why it lost it's appeal.

Anonymous said...

"a line in the sand announcing that winter is no longer welcome, that the time for renewal is now, that there is no looking back but only forward,..."

I love that sentiment.

Anonymous said...

what a GLORIOUS post! i'm SO glad that someone else feels like i do on opening day. (we always eat hot dogs, fries, and a paddlepop on a quilt for the first game on tv) when ernie harwell used to quote from the song of solomon- *then* we knew that it was spring! thanks again!

Panthergirl said...

Baseball lover? OK, you definitely have to give up this camping thing...

I am a diehard Yankee fan, but so much so that I rooted for the ORIOLES in the '69 World Series against the [yuck] Mets.