February 1, 2010
I love Minnesota! Some people say that its too cold, and they can’t belive they haven’t moved south already. I look at it as, when it’s hot outside, it’s hot and there’s nothing you can do about it. When it’s cold you can always dress for the weather. Plus the snow is so beautiful! There’s just something about that cold crisp air too. It feels so clean.
Ever since the temp has dropped here, I’ve wanted to share my love of the north star state with ‘little’. I really want to go skating with him. It’s perfect because I’m not very good at skating, I started a couple years ago, so we can learn this wonderful sport of hockey together. He wants to go skiing, but I think that may get a little expensive to get into. There really just isn’t anything like being able to defeat the Minnesotan negative degree weather by skating around outside. Especially when it’s so cold outside and you’re skating so hard all you need is a sweater. I love it and I can’t wait to bring ‘little’.
In order to get him excited about trying this new activity I brought him to the US Pond Hockey Championship over on Lake Nakomis in Minneapolis. It was about 10-15 degrees out so not to bad. We watched the 40+championship game. They were pretty rowdy (probably more rowdy than any 40 year old should be) and ‘little’ really liked that. Our adventure there elicited the exact response that I was looking for. He’s really excited to try skating. I hope he has the perseverance and interest to keep it up. I really want to share my new found love for this sport with him.
NHL Bound
We stayed at the pond hockey for about 45 minutes, but ‘little’ doesn’t own any boots and his feet were freezing. We took off a little earlier than I wanted but it ended up being great. On our way home we passed by the airport. ‘little’ seemed pretty excited about the planes. I remembered when I was a young lad, my old man used to stop on the frontage road so we could watch them take off. Turns out ‘little’ digs that. There’s a state park right there that we parked at and sat on the car to watch the plane fly by. It was a good time for me to grill him on school, family, friends… He never divulges any deep info (he’s 11) but I just want him to know that he can always come to me with stuff if he wants.
Plane Spotting
He hadn’t eaten breakfast so I brought him to his first greasy spoon diner experience. We went to Mickey’s and had the most delicious pancakes ever. His eyes got about as big as the pancakes when he had his first bite! I mean, all they do is basically fry them in a pound of butter. SOO GOOD!! I always try to push him to say thank you and please when we’re out. He starting to do it on his own now, so he asked me if he could thanks tothe cook (who was making the food right in front of us) and I said sure. Say, “Compliments to the Chef” when she comes by. He did. She was confused and it didn’t really go over very well. ha ha, pretty hilarious though. Oh, it’s the little things in life that’s gets us by wouldn’t you say??
The Mickey's Diner Experience!
Yet again, another exciting, eventful outing with ‘little’. I’m just trying to remember what my life was like with out him…
September 1, 2009
$130,000 raised for Big Brothers/Sisters and a second place finish!
‘little’ and I are fairly involved with the the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization, outside of being matched together of course. We try to attend many group activities together and meet other matches, have a good time, and support the organization! Because of our close involvement we get a lot of ‘extra’s’ from them. One of these particular extra’s happened to be the other day. A wonderful group of people called the Arby’s Foundation, the charitable branch of Arby’s restaurants, puts on a wonderful charitable golfing event that supports Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities. This was their 19th annual event and it was held at Tartan Park golf course out in Lake Elmo, MN. It turned out the week before the event there were a few tickets that had been allocated to the BBBS group. It just so happened that these tickets floated down through the ranks and made it to me. There was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to take a Monday off of work and hit the links for a good cause! My game certainly wasn’t in any shape to brag about it, but that certainly wasn’t the point. I wasn’t disappointed that I jumped all over this opportunity. Plus what a great opportunity to get plugged into more people that are off the same mind as I am, in wanting to make a difference in our community.
Right when I arrived before I even got out of my car, there was a golf cart there to pick up my clubs for me, and bring them to the cart I’d be using. I went down to sign up and got a dozen golf balls, a nice Adidas Golf shirt, and a complimentary breakfast with delicious coffee. I asked my old college roommate to join me so when he arrived we met up and hit the green for a putting competition. Apparently I wasn’t warmed up yet, because I wasn’t even close to the cup!! After the competition I ran into some of the BBBS folks that I’m pretty close with, and they told me I was in for a great surprise. When I headed to my cart to get ready for the shot gun start with my old buddy, in the cart next to us was Matt Blair, an ex-Minnesota Viking. Turned out that we were slated to hit balls with Matt Blair, and Joey Browner (also an ex-Viking) all day. Joey ended up not being able to make it so it was just a three some. Matt couldn’t have been a more gracious fun golf partner, not to mention a super skilled player as well. Just watching him swing the golf club elevated my own game way more than I could imagine. As we carted out to our tee, literally through the morning mist which couldn’t have made for a more picturesque setting, the day only kept getting better.
The format for the tourament was each group took the best shot off of the tee then played our own ball for the rest of the hole. Obviously because Matt was on our team we had a substantial safety net, and could take some pretty solid swings at the ball. I was so happy that 3 of mine, and 3 of my buddies drives were the best out of 18 holes, and the rest were Matt’s. I couldn’t believe it because this has never happened before, but my game was on!! Of course I had a few duffs here and there, but my fairway woods felt great, my short pitch game was accurate but most fun of all, my putting was spot on. Oh it was so exciting. I made at least 5 one putts that were 10 feet plus from the hole. I was dropping em out of no where. The coolest part of it was that I had a 6 time pro bowler, super bowl participant, football phenom overjoyed for my putts going in. Matt was so elated whenever I dropped a long ball! It was, as was the whole day, such a surreal experience. Funny after thought, I think I felt like ‘little’ when I Matt was congratulating me. Here’s is this far superior athlete, entrepreneur, philathropist giving me a a little snip it of his attention! He made me feel like a million bucks. It just became apparent to me that there is no one who couldn’t use a little mentoring in their lives! hmmm
The tournament was so well run also. Every third hole there were three coolers of soda, Gatorade, juice, water and beer. There was a longest drive, closest to the pin, and longest putt competition. We could purchase a couple mulligans at the beginning of the round for $25 which I thought was hilarious as well as useful!! FOUR!!! We had Arby’s delicious sandwiches and pasta salad placed in our carts before we even started. I was super impressed. Everything came together for this special day too! The weather couldn’t have been warmer or cooler, just perfect. There was a gentle breeze that was nothing but soothing and I had two of the best golfing partners a guy could ask for!
My phone was ringing off the hook from work, apparently something was going down. It was just to bad that I accidently pushed the power button and had to enjoy silence for the rest of the day!! Shhhhhh…..
At the end of the round we headed into the clubhouse for the 19th hole reception where we had some dinner and and sat in for the award ceremony I couldn’t contain my surprise when our team was awarded the overall second place prize! I really had felt like I played the game of my life but to even be in contention would have been great! We got some hardware to take home with us, a nice picture with Matt Blair, the Arby’s folks, and Gloria the Big Brothers Big Sisters CEO. Pretty good company if I do say so myself. I had to continue to remind myself to keep my chin off of the floor because of my surprise for our placement.
Me and Matt Blair
Really the coolest part about the whole night was that Arby’s ended up raising $113,00 for BBBS. That means that 1,000 matches will be funded for 1 whole year. That means that 1,000 bigs will have the opportunity to make a difference in a kids life in their community. That means that 1,000 kids will be much better prepaired for college, or the work force, self confident in themselves and their abilities, and hopefully will one day come back to give back to their community! Even though, I skipped out on work on Monday, and had a pile of papers waiting for me on my return, I felt so accomplished and fulfiled about my experience. Life is about helping other people out when you can, and getting through this together, and if that means I have to spend more Monday’s out in nature, then heck, I’ll take one for the team!
The point of this blog isn’t to raise funds for the orgnaization, it’s to let you know about my experience, and through that know that there are people like the good folks at BBBS, that are making a difference, and setting up opportunities for guys like me to participate in helping others out. I hope that someone reading this will get it in their head that they too can make a difference by volunteering, and have a blast doing it by the way, but I know that we are all busy in our own particular efforts and often can’t find the time for another activity. Of course if you don’t have the time but would like to help out events like this where we raise awareness, or would like to support a match with any amount of donation, I know everyone affected would appreciate it. Here’s the link to donate to a worthy cause!!
http://bit.ly/9Lzm5
Thanks anyone reading this, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities, Arby’s Foundation, Matt Blair, Tartan Park managment and Staff, Cargil, 3M, and any other donors to this great cause!
April 20, 2009
The day had finally come for ‘little’ and I to hang out on our own. I surprisingly wasn’t nervous. Our first meeting had gone very well, I felt comfortable with ‘little’ and mom, they seemed comfortable with me, and the situation felt like it had the makings of a wonderful night.
I quick drove over to ‘little’s’ house after work and was somewhat disappointed that neither he nor mom were there at the appointed time. I talked to a fellow at the house and he was making an honest effort to get a hold of them to figure out where they were. After about 10 minutes on their front porch ‘little’ pulled up to the house with his aunt and we took off right away. He seemed pretty excited. I’ve never been in charge of someone his age (being the youngest of four in my family) and I instinctually grabbed for his hand as we walked across the street. I don’t know what brought me to do it, but that physical contact wasn’t alarming at all for ‘little’. I didn’t even ask him. He really has no idea who I am except for the half hour we spent a few days ago with mom and match coordinator at their house. I think that if a stranger had grabbed my hand when I was his age I would have been a bit frusterated.
Because of BBBS rules ‘littlehas to ride in the back seat of the car so he hopped right in, threw on his seat belt without me asking and we were on our way. He wanted to listen to the radio so I flipped in a Citizen Cope CD (the closest thing I have to rap or R&B, his favorite) and we drove on. He was kind of diggin the music.
We didn’t stop talking the whole way to the Dome. It’s incredible how easy going he is. He’s a very curious boy and doesn’t hold back on any questions or comments. I’m not sure how normal this is because I’ve never really hung out with a 10 year old kid on an extended basis before. I have no idea but I absolutely love it. He seems so incredibly innocent. For example, while we were driving, ‘little’ looked at me through the rearview mirror and said “Joseph, are you mixed”’. I was pretty sure I knew what he was asking but I asked him to explain what he meant by ‘mixed, and he replied “you know half black, half… something else??”
“Nope ‘little’, I’m all white. How about you, you mixed??”
“No, I’m black.”
While we were talking he mentioned that most his mates at school were either latino or african american and that there really weren’t that many caucasion people that influenced his life.
We got to the stadium and had to walk about a half mile, there really isn’t much good parking around there. little’s wearing a walking cast because he broke his ankle a month ago. I asked him if he wanted a piggie back ride and he was delighted to take me up on my offer… turns out 80lbs get’s heavy after a quarter mile!! ‘We’ labored on.
I had brought t-shirts and markers so we found a bench outside and went to town on our designs. We both put the TC symbol on the front, just like the players, then I added ‘Big’ and 1 to the back of mine, and he put ‘little’ and 1/2 on his. I was glad that he was so gung ho about the shirts. He loved filling in all the letters and making sure everything was centered. They certainly were no works of art but this really got him excited to head inside. It was pretty hilarious.
The Artist!
A woman that was sitting near us was commenting on how great of an artist he was, he seemed proud. The woman, it turned out, had cerebral palsy. She saw that I had my camera and offered to take pictures of us while we were working away. When ‘little’ saw that her hand was a little cramped up he asked, without hesitation, “what’s up with your hand?” His question was completely straightforward and curios. He honestly saw something that set this woman apart and wanted to know what the difference was.
The woman quickly responded, obviously a bit shaken that he was so forward with his question. She explained that she had CP, and had had it since she was a child, but that she was much higher functioning than many others. She loosened up pretty quick and said that she was happy to explain to ‘little’ what set her apart from other people. It was interesting to see how he disarmed her so quickly but at the same time softened her up which allowed her to speak so freely and turn a potentially awkward situation into a learning experience for us all! Simply amazing how ‘little’ surprises me around every turn… and we’re not even into the game yet!
We went into the game and found our seats, 15 rows behind home plate!! ‘Little’ seemed unimpressed, or indifferent I suppose, would be a better word there. I wonder what he would think about sitting out on the home run porch (way out in the outfield). We got some cotton candy, and ‘little’ cordially offered everyone around us a handful. They all declined but gave me a quick passing smile of surprise and delight!
The game went just fine. He wasn’t super familiar with all the rules so as the game was going on I explained them as best I could, which is harder than one would think, conveying these rules to a 10 year old.
One thing that he did enjoy about the game was the heckling of the opposing players. The interesting thing was though, that every time he would say anything out loud, he would look at me out of the corner of his eyes to see if I approved or not. He certainly has respect for me as an adult, a mentor, and I couldn’t be happier about that. There was one point where he said something that certainly wasn’t a four letter word but was a bit more crude than what was appropriate and I told him ‘no’. He sort of hung his head and was quiet… for the next 30 seconds, and than got right back into it, appropriately of course. He’s such a good kid! I certainly don’t want to be a disciplinarian in his life, because I don’t think that’s what he needs, and I don’t think that’s what I’m called to do, but I do have to take a stance and set my boundaries. This way I believe our relationship will be so much stronger. OH MY GOSH I SOUNDS LIKE MY PARENTS HA HA HA!!!
I’ve been going to twins games for dang near 15 years now, and never has a foul ball come with in 2 sections of me, nor have I gotten on the big screen. In the8th inning a ball landed three rows behind us, and between the top and bottom of the inning ‘little’, along with my torso, got on the big screen. If this kid ever goes back to a game, I can only imagine he’s going to find it a little lame. ‘Little’ was pretty excited about all that but nothing beat the end of the game.
Twins Game
The Blue Jays tied it up in the 7th and no offense came of it until the end of the 11th when Joe Crede knocked in Justin Morneau for a walk off double!! It was ear piercingly ecstatic inside the dome! Everyone went nuts and ‘little’ without really knowing what was going on, got all caught up in the hysteria of it all! We ran over to get some autographs, and saw Justin interviewing on the field but he ducked right into the dug out before we got a chance to get to him.
I gave ‘little’ a piggy back all the way back to the car and we recapped the game the whole way. The ride home was pretty uneventful on the way home. He was playing with my camera and giving me play-by-plays of the video he had shot until we pulled up to his house. At this point he could barely contain himself. When we got in the house he couldn’t decide which part of the night to tell mom and he was fumbling all over the place. He needed to go to the bathroom but was to excited, made it half way, turned back, and grabbed the cotton candy to give to his mom, than ran off. Mom was excited to see his reaction.
Overall I couldn’t believe how the day went sooo smoothly. Super exciting, full of new fun events, great communication between the two of us as well as with others… I have so much to build upon, and so much to be excited about!!!
As far as future get together, I think we’re going to take it easy for the next few meetings. Maybe we’ll read a book, play some video games, throw a ball around etc. etc. I want to get to know him on more of a personal level.
I’ll keep you guys posted! Thanks for reading, I know that was a long one. I have so much more…
