Sports?

I hate to sit in the heat and just sweat. It's infinitely worse when you're sitting, packed like a proverbial sardine, amongst other overheated, sweaty bodies. Plus, one of my meds warns to 'avoid prolonged exposure to the sun.' I've learned the truth of that warning - once a lifeguard who never used sunscreen, I can now feel my skin burning within 5 minutes of being in the sun.

So why in God's name am I going to spend three hours sitting in 90 degree heat - probably receiving the aforementioned 'prolonged exposure' - crammed into the uncomfortable bleachers at the 3 + 2 field at Shawnee Mission Park?

Because young DW - my adopted nephew - is playing in the state baseball finals.

And he's good. Scored two runs, a couple RBIs, and played a wicked first base in last night's first round game.

I've gotten to know some of his teammates, too, so their victory last night felt more personal. I've watched those boys rally around DW, providing him great support in the months since his mother - my friend MJ - died.

His teammates loved her, too, you see. She opened her house - and her heart - to all of them. She was the person they'd talk to when they couldn't (or wouldn't) talk to their own parents. A sympathetic and funny woman, she was the adult friend who could help them see things more clearly.

Those boys grieved, too, lined up in a pew at her funeral.

And when the Shawnee Mission West Vikings take the field at 12:30 this afternoon, each of the boys will be taking MJ with them. Her initials are on their wristbands and their helmets. Fans in the stands will be wearing "All the Way with MJ" T-shirts. I've got mine on now. (The sunscreen will come later.)

I was never particularly athletic, and I went to school pre-Title 9, so there was never an opportunity to be part of a high school team. I'd never understood - or even thought about - what that experience brings to a young athlete: discipline, focus, working together for something larger than yourself.

Most of all, the camaraderie. And the love.

A love that has helped sustain a grieving teenager during his time of loss and pain.

So I'll be in the bleachers this afternoon, sweating like a pig and cheering the team on. Rooting for MJ's Team.

Out of Pocket, Out of Sorts

As my Texas family says, I've been "out of pocket" for a while. Missing in action. Gone.

My best friend of 36 years died a little over two weeks ago. Came home from a trip to Mexico and was dead in 24 hours of a virulent strain of bacterial meningitis.

I suddenly find myself the de facto guardian of her two teenage children. They're both over 18, so the fact that my friend had appointed me guardian in case of just this such eventuality means diddly-squat. But that doesn't remove the sense of responsibility. An 18 and 19 year old living alone in a house in the 'burbs doesn't leave me feeling comfortable. The 18 year old is a senior in high school and doesn't even know how to do his own laundry, though insists he's an adult now and will be making his own decisions thank you very much.

The 19 year old spent 2 years in rehab - which, from her condition during the week between her mother's death and funeral service, hasn't worked. She's turning it around, thank God, stepping up to the plate, keeping the house going, meeting with lawyers and bankers as they try to figure out her mom's estate and the trust set up for them. The decisions are theirs; I can't tell them what to do, I can only (hopefully) influence and guide. I fear for both of them.

In the meantime, I have a hole in my heart, missing my friend.

I think I have it together, but the evidence belies it: I've lost my cell phone a half dozen times in the last two weeks; lost my car keys twice; even lost my damn car in a parking lot; made a gigantically stupid error at work; got lost going to my friend's house (where I've visited a gazillion times); lost my train of thought at inopportune moments; in short, I'm a mess.

The universe is telling me to take some time off.



My friend Mary Jo, at a campground outside Jackson Hole. We sure had us some fun...