Day 179: T-Ball Time with Luke

Me: How many outs, Luke?

Luke: Grape! Or Cherry!

If you're familiar with the Brian Regan routine about his days playing Little League baseball, then the above conversation will make sense. Even if it doesn't, suffice me to say that, earlier tonight, I finally made it out to one of my nephew Luke's t-ball games at Tolman Elementary in Bountiful.

It's not the World Series, of course, but Luke loves to play the game, and he and his teammates enjoyed themselves and played hard.


Incidentally, Luke did go home with a grape-flavored Kool-Aid treat.

Day 135: Chili Cheese Fries

Did you know that Wendy's now serves chili chees fries? Well, they do.

Can life get any better? I submit to you that it cannot.

Soccer Time with Luke

This autumn, my four-year-old nephew Luke began his first season of playing recreational soccer. Earlier tonight, I finally made it over to Woods Cross to see one of his games.

One thing I discovered is that few things are more entertaining than watching eight four- and five-year-olds running around on a soccer field, kicking a soccer ball. The sight may be something comparable to a swarm of bees going from one piece of food to another at a picnic; nobody plays a position, and there are no goalies, but it's not really crucial to this level of play, anyway. The kids have fun, and, again, they're four and five years old.


Luke (#4, in green) played as hard as he could and ran himself ragged all over the field throughout the game.

Here, Luke takes a well-earned breather during halftime:



Much like Brian Regan's comedy routine about playing Little League Baseball mainly for the snowcone that comes after the game, the kids on Luke's team also look forward to their post-game treats:


Random Fact That I Swear I Am Not Making Up: One of the kids on the other team was named Anakin. (Congrats, universe. You beat me to it.)

All told, I enjoyed watching the game very much, and I look forward to attending more of them.

Christmas Eve and Second Chances

For the third time in five years, I spent Christmas Eve in the hospital.

Over the past few years, I have developed this odd tradition of spending at least part of my Christmas holiday under close medical scrutiny. In 2005, I went into the E.R. with a severe rash on my arm; originally diagnosed as a spider bite, it turned out that what I had was actually shingles (which stayed with me for the next two months). Then, two years ago, I had surgery performed on my right shoulder just a few days before Christmas, and I did not react well to the anesthesia; as a result, the next week or so was a rather difficult one for me.

This year's saga begin on Monday night, when I began to experience chest pains unlike anything I had ever felt before. Things didn't get much better for me over the next couple of days; in fact, they got worse.

Initially, I went to InstaCare to get checked out. But as soon as I mentioned the term chest pains, they sent me directly to the hospital, as they claimed they were not capable of treating that. This is how I ended up in the E.R. at about 1:30 p.m. Christmas Eve.

The doctor and nurses who examined me originally thought I might have gallstones. For those of you Brian Regan fans out there, yes, they did ask me what my pain level was on a scale of one to 10, and I really was tempted to say 8 - but I didn't.

At any rate, after undergoing a series of tests, including an EKG, an ultrasound, and X-rays, it was determined that my hiatal hernia, which is caused by acid reflux - something I was initially diagnosed with in the summer of '99, over 10 years ago - had been acting up and was the cause of my chest pains. Further, I learned that several things I had lapsed on doing - not eating close to bedtime/after midnight and taking my daily Nexium/Prevacid pills - had aggravated my problem.

Additionally, the doctor mentioned that the number-one worst thing for acid reflux in anyone's diet (following drinking alcohol and smoking, which don't apply to most of us, myself included) is caffeinated soda. (Did you catch that, friends of mine who are so in love with Diet Coke?)

As we approach the New Year and the time for making resolutions, it looks like cutting out all soda - not just caffeinated soda - will again be at the top of my list. I tried it last year, and it took for only about two or three months. Well, appears that it's time to make a final break with Dr. Pepper, once and for all; no "just being friends," either.

I guess the good news about this strange pattern of events is that I can look forward to taking off Christmas 2010 before beginning to dread Christmas 2011!

In addition, I am very grateful that there wasn't something worse wrong with me. I spent many moments Monday through Thursday in terrible physical pain and often felt like I was dying. When acid reflux/esophagitis flares up as badly as it did with me, I'm told that the symptoms mimic those of a heart attack.

When I stop to consider the car accidents, prolonged illnesses, and other injuries that my family members have survived over the past few years, including my mom's stroke this past summer, I am additionally grateful that we are all still alive and kicking. I was, in fact, fortunate enough to be out of the hospital by the early evening and home with my family in time to participate in the annual family Christmas pageant, singing of Christmas hymns, and opening of presents.

In the many hours I waited in the E.R., the thought occurred to me that Christmas is, after all, a time for second chances of many kinds. As I was released from the E.R. and got to go home, the thought remained with me, and I was grateful that I was given a new lease on life, from a certain point-of-view.

For example, the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, as told in A Christmas Carol, is all about taking a second look at his life and being given a second chance to live it. Such is the case with George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, my favorite Christmas movie of all time.

Indeed, the whole idea behind Christmas - the coming of a Savior to the world - is about mankind being given a second chance and being offered the opportunity to repent when we sin or make mistakes.

Maybe it's the heavy pain medication talking right now, but that's what I gathered from this experience.

And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, everyone.