October 17, 2009

This is us...now.

It was a Saturday. I was scheduled to call the Rye-Harrison game at Feeley Field in Harrison (a terrible place to broadcast a game from, unless you can find room in or near the press box).

Of course, we never found room to do a game in or near their press box, so, as usual, Sean Kilkelly, Nick Fox, Chris Erway and I went inside the Harrison Ave Elementary School and tried calling the game from the back of the auditorium - through a small window.  In fact, Sean sat in another part of the auditorium near a window, and I was a good 100 feet away.  Erway went down to the field, and when I couldn't see the action, I would just hand it off to him.  He called things from field level!

Harrison has finally moved to a new field.  I hope one day to do a game from there.

Ah, but back to Rye-Harrison '09.  Rye won "The Game" 21-7, winning their seventh in a row against the longtime rivals.  That's about all I remember about it.

The postgame is much more memorable.  I wanted us to wrap up and head out as soon as possible, because I needed to get all the way up to Poughkeepsie, NY.  I was set to meet my cousin Kris at a Starbucks near Marist College, but I needed to get there, and fast.  Time was a factor.

Kris was heading over to St. Francis Hospital to see his wife.  Well, that's not exactly true.  His wife, Lori, was there, but he was bringing me to see his wife.  Wait, no, that's wrong also.  Kris and Lori wanted me to meet somebody.

Lisa.

I knew very little about her, but it seemed like a good idea for us to meet.  So Kris and I met at Starbucks, where I was told that I was buying a Chai tea latte.  Lisa would like that.

We parked where the cops park - after all, Kris is, well, a cop.  We strolled right into the emergency area as if we worked there.  Damn, I expected to be caught and thrown out but Kris is Kris.  He knows where to go.  We made it back to where Lori was...and Lisa was supposed to be.

I waited.  I would come to find out that that is her standard operating procedure.

Finally, a very attractive blonde walked in.  No smile - at least not at first.  Maybe an awkward one..  Nervous, I thought, though she seemed pleased with the gift from Starbucks.  She was cautious - not too outgoing.  Maybe shy.

We made small talk for a few minutes - almost acting like neither one of us was standing there expecting to have met the other (though we both knew we were set up).

Kris and I left.  He invited me back to his house, and Lori would join us for some pizza, carrying an important document.

A scrap of paper with Lisa's phone number.

Two days later, after a long phone conversation, we met at a different Staburcks, further down US 9 (which runs from Laurel, DE to Champlain, NY) in Poughkeepsie.  We spent a few hours talking and getting to know each other (all while the Yankees were playing Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.  That's a huge compliment.).

We also shot a cell phone picture together, but I know her, and she would not want me to post it here.

She was funny and fun to talk to.  She was attractive.  She liked me, but didn't entirely want to be liked.  Not yet.  To be honest, she was detached and difficult to get close to.  It was like we were friends, at best.  Subsequent so-called "dates" were like pulling teeth.  It didn't make sense, but I figured it just wasn't meant to be.  Ultimately there were reasons for all of this, and we both went on with our lives before fate intervened again.

Trust me when I say that it could have been very different, but we went down different paths.  I think we're better for it.

It all started three years ago today.  And for that, I'm forever grateful.