ACTS Week 10

Not a ton happened in Week 10.  So I was kind of tempted to combine it with Week 9.  But the when I finished writing about week 9 and saw its length, I decided that rather than continue an already verbose entry that I would just write a separate shorter entry.  Which I am sure you will all appreciate, if you actually made it through that last one.  You know, sometimes I think, “Should I separate out these individual events, like I would have done had I been in New York when I dissected every random crazy event down to its least common denominators?”  And then I think, “Gee, that would require a lot more time, thought, energy, and unnecessaryness” and get over it.  But I have noticed that while I have plenty of stuff happening in my life about which to write, I am lacking in quippy commentary on my surroundings, on Washingtonians, and observations about this world I inhabit.  There was PLENTY to write about New Yorkers and the city itself, and presumably as much about Washington as well, I just am in more of a bubble up here in the orchards, and so, what you get is what you get.  But I guaran-friggin-tee I will have plenty of quips about Mexico and Romania.  I can just feel the writing material already- it’s palpable, even from way up here in the Pacific Northwest.  Get excited.  But for now, deal.

One night we decided to have Story Time before going to bed, and Daddy Jordan told some of the girls (and Bobby) a bedtime story.  Snow White to be precise.  Only, he kind of added little things not found in the original Walt Disney version of the story.  Commentary on the dwarves and which would be good for which of his “daughters” to marry.  Commentary on Snow White’s psychological state.  And such.  When you don’t have the easy default of TV to zone out during your evenings, it’s quite amazing what you can come up with to amuse yourself.

Interestingly enough, we didn’t do anything for Halloween.  For perhaps the first time in my life I didn’t dress up and gather copious amounts of sugary substances to eat for months to come.  Instead I sat in Starbucks with friends and drank a Pumpkin Spice Latte, watching the Halloweeners.  And was in fact quite content with this.  On Saturday we decided to make a trek out to Pastor Tom’s house in the Wenas Valley.  That is pronounced “WEE-nass”.  I’m going to leave that one alone.  The reason Pastor Tom’s house is particularly worth visiting is because he has a Whiffle Ball Field.  Now, you may be thinking, “So do I when I put a few orange bases around my yard, what’s the big deal?”  Oh no.  This is an actual full-out field.  With real bases.  Foul polls.  Old school outfield wall signs.  The works.  As the saying goes, “If you build it, they will come.”  And indeed, we came.  We played whiffle ball for three hours in the spritzy rain.  We ate hotdogs, Doritos, Coke, and had a good-ol American day.  It was great. 

The greatest moment of the day was the top of the 6^th inning (you only play 6 in whiffle ball, at least on Tom’s field), my team was down 9-6, and we needed to have a big showing in order to take the game to the bottom of the 6^th.  Pastor Tom, a notoriously fierce man on the mound, was pitching.  We brought it up to 9-8 with several good hits.  Then, with one runner on second, our friend Andy hit a home run, putting us in the lead 9-10.  In that moment I thought Tom was going to curl up in a shell and never emerge.  NO ONE hits home runs off of Tom.  No one.  Going into the bottom of the 6^th, it was crucial we hold them off and pull out a clutch last inning victory.  With some excellent pitching we managed to deny them any runs and we WON THE GAME!  Talk about the come-back kids!  Seriously, talk about a great game of whiffle ball!  One of the best I’ve played in years! 

And that about does it for Week 10.  We’re heading to Seattle this weekend, so I will surely have some good stories to share for Week 11.  Next week is Week 12, and then we’re off to MEXICO!