I had a nice, relaxing weekend after a busy week in Anaheim, California, for the ALA Annual Conference. I was wiped out after flying back overnight Tuesday, zipping through 4 timezones in fifteen hours and arriving in my hometown Wednesday morning– without any sleep. I was so sleepy I was dizzy. I thought connected chairs without armrests in the Atlanta airport looked terribly comfy (they weren’t). I toughed it out Thursday at work, then survived a super-late all-star baseball game that night. Thankfully it ended moments before a thunderstorm would have ended it anyway. I woke up on July 4th after twelve hours of sleep and have slept as much as possible all weekend. It’s nice to feel human again.
The relaxing weekend will soon evaporate, as my son starts yet another all-star baseball tournament, this one at their home field. Games start Monday night and end on Sunday. We have games Monday, Tuesday and Saturday, which determine our position in the actual tournament on Sunday. We have to work concessions and the field this week, since our club is hosting the tournament. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to write to my blog in the early part of the week– since there’s no wireless Internet connection at the baseball field. 
One of the things I missed while I was out of town was the slow pace of a baseball game, even one that’s part of an all-star tournament. I missed sitting in a lawn chair, watching the evening turn to night, bugs flitting around the lights, siblings shouting and playing in nearby dirt piles, cicadas buzzing on and off, and dads coaching from the sidelines. I missed the smell of the grill (even though I’m almost sick of eating grilled food) and the smell of bug repellent (not a great smell, but a fond one for some reason). I cherish the sights, sounds, and smells of summer– my favorite season.
