him + me + sports = ?

"Be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. In the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul" -- Max Ehrmann

This past Monday marked the end of Week 1 of football season. And with the Mets vs. Phillies series wrapping up over the weekend it is once again quite clear to us why our original plan to have a September wedding was a poor idea. While I may be the love of Alphonse's life, I can't really compete with that "other" love of his life, sports. And to be fair, he did love baseball and football long before he even knew me, so I can see this fight for Al's heart/his Monday nights ending badly. Instead, we've decided to just all get along (sports, Al, and me)... We've bonded over many a game (live or on tv), and I even have my very "own" fantasy football team this year (perhaps a bad idea for med school). The three-way relationship seems to be working out quite peacefully so far...

us dressed up in Mets gear. click to enlarge.

Also, the NJ engagement party is this weekend, and I'm extremely excited to see everyone (even though I have an exam Monday morning... why?!) Check back for a post-party picture update :)

"David said to Saul, 'Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him'" -- 1 Samuel 17:32

you win some, you lose some...

"Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning." -- Gloria Steinem

So it's official: we're doomed to always watch the home team lose this year. It's only June and we've already sat through a few Knicks and Nets losses, a Nationals loss, and wayyyy too many Mets losses. And to make matters worse, we've made no progress in our wedding planning, according to ourweddingday.com:

Luckily, that's not entirely true. In fact, I think with 15 months to go we're in pretty good wedding shape! We have most of the "big" things taken care of now we just have to figure out the bazillion "small" things that will make our day extra special. :) . And according to theknot.com, this month we should be focusing on engagement parties, colors, and romance... all of which we've got under control. This wedding planning stuff is a piece of cake, right?


And I apologize for updating so erratically, but we're meeting with our event planner, Tom, tomorrow, so expect another update in the near future (I know you're brimming with anticipation). And last, but not least... Thank you to everyone for all the input and feedback (verbal/written/mimed/etc) on colors and dresses... It's been very helpful so far!

And one of my favorite verses to close: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" -- Jeremiah 29:11

another ball-game/park

"If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base." -- Dave Barry

One of Al's life goals is to visit all the baseball parks across the United States. As his future life partner, I might as well be part of this goal. So alas, this past weekend, we made some progress on our cross country (cross century?) journey by visiting Nationals Park in Washington, DC. What better way to spend the longest day of the year, than by soaking in some summer baseball? The park was absolutely gorgeous, and brand spanking new. And the many hours that we spent on bus/train/foot this past weekend made for some quality talk time about a variety of topics, obviously the wedding being one of the most prominent. I would be lying if I said that all this planning isn't stressing me out one bit, but I'm glad that Alphonse and I are talking through each decision and truly making this wedding our own.

Here's a sampling of photos from our ball park visit, complete with a goofy Alphonse photo.

Also, as I side note, we've been to four games this season and have yet to see the home team win... perhaps, we should stop watching live baseball. We'll see how things play out at the Mets game we go to on Tuesday. And even if we have no luck in baseball this year, we've been pretty lucky in love so far.

"But he said to them, 'Do not detain me, now that the LORD has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master.'"-- Genesis 24:56

love and baseball

"You look forward to it like a birthday party when you're a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen." -- Joe DiMaggio about Opening Day

Two months ago Al and I bought tickets to the last home opener at Shea Stadium. At 1:10 PM today, with the first pitch of the ball game, weeks of anticipation finally gave way to reality. The sun was shining, the seats were filled, the smell of good ol' stadium food was in the air, and the Mets were winning. It was a (nearly) perfect ball game, at least for the first six innings. But then, like many good things, the sun dropped behind the stands, the crowd grew rowdy, and the Mets bullpen fell apart. Before we knew it we were on a train back to Manhattan and the Mets had another loss on their record. Right about now you might expect me to start talking about how love is like baseball, curve balls and all... but that's been done before, sorta (rent this). Instead I wanted to talk about the role sports have played in our relationship and our wedding planning...


Over the past two years or so Al and I have been to countless sporting events and watched even more on tv. When I told my fiance that I was writing about sports, he started listing off facts, such as: "John Elway was drafted by the Yankees but refused to play because they didn't offer him enough money. The Colts also gave him an offer, but he refused that, too, because it was too low," and many others including very specific names and dates. And while most of these facts went over my head I can say that, as two people who were each very involved in sports in high school, watching sports together and (usually) rooting for the same team has been one of my favorite parts of our relationship. Of course it's most fun when our teams win, but even when they lose, it's enjoyable to partake in the experience together. This probably goes without saying, but for any relationship to thrive, I definitely recommend finding an activity that you can enjoy together and doing it as often as possible! When we first started planning our wedding we were thinking of having it in September, but then sports came in to play in a new and different way. I realized that a late September wedding, although autumnally pleasing, fell at possibly the worst time of the year-- the end of regular season baseball and the start of football season. When I shared this news with my "wishes-he-was-a-sportscaster" fiance he replied, "And that's how you know a girl's a keeper." To say the least, we are no longer planning a September wedding. In fact, this weekend we are visiting my home church and seeing what dates they have available in August 2009. Wish us luck-- major moves are to be made in the near future!


"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." -- 1 Corinthians 9:24-25