As I'm sitting here watching the World Series I wanted to tell the story of why I love the Texas Rangers so much. When I was in 8th grade, my mom's friend, who is also my cousins aunt (just go with it) asked me if I wanted to go to Ft. Worth with her and help with a birthday party. Royalin, who has always been a dear family friend, always put on the best birthday parties for her family. She has two sons and I always helped with their over the top birthday parties. Her sister Deanna lived in Ft. Worth and twice a year I would venture there to help with her daughters birthday parties. These entailed months of planning, weeks of preperation and always a day before all nighter. Every birthday had a theme, which included Little Mermaid, Star Trek, Beauty and the Beast, firefighter, farm, Ninja Turtles etc. And each one was absolute over the top, yet so fun and memorable. I remember dressing up as Simba, a flight attendant, a clown, and a vulcan. I remember staying up all night to finish making the Beauty and the Beast village out of cardboard boxes, paper machaeing a giant cow, and painting the house grey so it looked like a sewer for the ninja turtle party. But the most memorable party was the 101 Dalmation party.
Deana was contacted by a friend to help with a large kid birthday party. She obliged to do so and got Royalin and I involved. I was so excited because the party was for the son of Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez son Derek. I don't remember much of the party preparation, but I do remember making a load of dog bone cookies and croissant dog bones. I also don't remember much about the party itself, but I do remember having the absolute best job. I was in charge of going in and out of the house to get things from the kitchen, like utensils and ice and refilling the punch bowl. This was so awesome because thats were all the guys were hanging out. And when I say guys, I mean super stars! Not only was I in the midst of a 3 time Golden glove winner, Pudge himself, I also rubbed shoulders with Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzales and Mario Diaz. (Okay, not exactly rubbing shoulders. The people that really know me, know that I was a shorty until I was a senior in high school.) They all said hi to me and were very nice. They had a game that evening and they were eating beans and rice and watching a game in the next room. I remember thinking it was odd that they were eating beans before a game, because I know that would've been a bad idea for me. What I remember most was admiring all the awards that were hanging in the hallway and thinking about how normal these guys seemed to be.
Ever since then I have absolutely been a Rangers fan. Im also a Yankees fan and I know a lot of you will be hating on me for that, but its always Rangers first. I was totally obsessed with Pudge Rodriguez after that. I used to cut out newspaper slippings of him and save them in a scrapbook. I still have his bobble head on my nightstand next to my bed. I have a collectors baseball card with part of his jersey on it. I kept up with his career when he moved to Detroit, and then to the Yankees. And was so happy when he came back to the Rangers to close it out. I was in the Rangers parking lot tailgaiting before the OU / BYU game at Texas stadium a couple of years ago and in my tailgaiting stupor (some of yall know what I mean) tried to bribe a Rangers maintenance guy on a golf cart to go get Pudge for me. (No there wasn't a game that day but I was feeling really hopeful that he was just hanging out in the stadium for no reason.)
So Im sitting here watching Game 1 of the World Series with the Rangers vs Cardinals, yelling at the TV. The Rangers are down 1 run at the bottom of the 8th with a Cards runner on 3rd with 2 outs. And I'm loving every minute of it because baseball has always made me happy ever since I was a little girl.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Last day:(
Today was the last day of our trip. First let me tell you a little bit about yesterday. We saw about 50 patients in the morning and then we packed up. During the week most of the patients had been bussed in from other areas, but yesterday when we got there, there was a line of people just waiting for us to get there. We were supposed to see children from an orphanage, but they double scheduled another trip for that day, so we just saw the locals that had heard about us being there through the grapevine.
Afterward we took a small trip to see Pastor Waynes school that he built. He has started a small school in the dump grounds where they teach up to 9th grade. The dump grounds is an area where the poorest of the poorest live in Nicaragua. Nicaragua is actually the 2nd poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere behing Haiti. So when we went down there it was so sad. It is basically the city dump, where people have set up little huts and they actually live. They try to get the first dibs on the trash for either food, or to find things they can sell on the street. Pastor Wayne has worked hard to set up a school for these children, in hopes that one day they can find their way out of that situation. When we went to the school, it is inside a big compound with large cement walls and barbed wire with an armed guard there all the time. He showed us the place that they had the school before, it was just a small building down the street. But he said that while they were there a few of his young girls were assaulted and one boy was kidnapped, so he had to move to another place that was safer for them. He is real excited though because graduation is in about a month and he is so proud of his students.
Today was our free day so we went to a couple of places to do some shopping and then we went to go zip line. I really was looking forward to that but I didn't partake because my back was really hurting and I didn't think it was a good idea. But the area we were in was just like a jungle. Some of the people said the year before they saw monkeys, but we didn't see any today. So Kate and I, who is pregnant, just acted as the cinematographers:) After that, we drove by a volcano. I don't remember the name but they said about 40 years ago it erupted and caused a lot of damage to the town. However, it has created a lot of lakes and inlets that are so beautiful. There was a lot of smoke coming out of it and it looked really cool. Some people have predicted that it should erupt again within the next 10 years. Also while traveling around the last few days it is very apparent that the sandanista group is still very present these days. If you haven't heard of the sandanistas, they are a group of rebels that have used terror strategies against their own people and to keep corrupt government officials in office. There are many armed guards placed in random places and their signs are prevalent across the country. Usually, this trip takes place the second week of October, but that is when the elections are this year and there is so much political tension, they decided to go earlier. Unfortunately, there is so much government corruption and it seems that many of the citizens are brain washed as to what leader would be the best for them, and how an actual democratic government should work.
Nevertheless, opportunities like this are very humbling. Sometimes it takes certain things in life to realize how lucky we are. Not only can we make our own choices and have equal opportunities as anyone else, simple things like eating 3 meals a day, sleeping in a warm bed, or having medical attention at our fingertips is simply overlooked and underappreciated. I am so glad I was able to attend this trip and hopefully I can continue to share the compassion towards people that I think I have been lacking.
Afterward we took a small trip to see Pastor Waynes school that he built. He has started a small school in the dump grounds where they teach up to 9th grade. The dump grounds is an area where the poorest of the poorest live in Nicaragua. Nicaragua is actually the 2nd poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere behing Haiti. So when we went down there it was so sad. It is basically the city dump, where people have set up little huts and they actually live. They try to get the first dibs on the trash for either food, or to find things they can sell on the street. Pastor Wayne has worked hard to set up a school for these children, in hopes that one day they can find their way out of that situation. When we went to the school, it is inside a big compound with large cement walls and barbed wire with an armed guard there all the time. He showed us the place that they had the school before, it was just a small building down the street. But he said that while they were there a few of his young girls were assaulted and one boy was kidnapped, so he had to move to another place that was safer for them. He is real excited though because graduation is in about a month and he is so proud of his students.
Today was our free day so we went to a couple of places to do some shopping and then we went to go zip line. I really was looking forward to that but I didn't partake because my back was really hurting and I didn't think it was a good idea. But the area we were in was just like a jungle. Some of the people said the year before they saw monkeys, but we didn't see any today. So Kate and I, who is pregnant, just acted as the cinematographers:) After that, we drove by a volcano. I don't remember the name but they said about 40 years ago it erupted and caused a lot of damage to the town. However, it has created a lot of lakes and inlets that are so beautiful. There was a lot of smoke coming out of it and it looked really cool. Some people have predicted that it should erupt again within the next 10 years. Also while traveling around the last few days it is very apparent that the sandanista group is still very present these days. If you haven't heard of the sandanistas, they are a group of rebels that have used terror strategies against their own people and to keep corrupt government officials in office. There are many armed guards placed in random places and their signs are prevalent across the country. Usually, this trip takes place the second week of October, but that is when the elections are this year and there is so much political tension, they decided to go earlier. Unfortunately, there is so much government corruption and it seems that many of the citizens are brain washed as to what leader would be the best for them, and how an actual democratic government should work.
Nevertheless, opportunities like this are very humbling. Sometimes it takes certain things in life to realize how lucky we are. Not only can we make our own choices and have equal opportunities as anyone else, simple things like eating 3 meals a day, sleeping in a warm bed, or having medical attention at our fingertips is simply overlooked and underappreciated. I am so glad I was able to attend this trip and hopefully I can continue to share the compassion towards people that I think I have been lacking.
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