I Like Lists

It's a trait I inherited from my dad, I believe. He's true believer that you can organize your life through enumeration and quantification.

Since his profession has been with computers before I was born, I have a million memories of him bringing home reams and reams of the old green and white lined computer paper. We kids would draw on it, he kept his lists on it. I don't think I saw a sheet of all-white 8 1/2 x 11 until I was in high school.

Anyway, a month ago or so, you may remember that I started to keep a notebook for my daily observations. I never want it to become a journal in the traditional sense, but a hodge podge of observations, quotes, and, yes, lists.

The first list I started was of my favorite book stores in different cities I've visited.

But the one I've been thinking about lately is "Things I'm Glad I Did Since I Won't Do Them Again". A couple of days later, I added (Probably).

The list isn't nearly as long as I thought it would be. First, I wanted to only include the extra-ordinary. Second, since I lead a relatively unadventurous yet joyful life, I want to relive those experiences over and over again.

Nonetheless, I've recounted half-dozen events that have a small probability of recurrence. I'll share:

1. Caught a a foul ball at a major league baseball game. This happened about four years ago actually and I can't even remember who was playing or who was at-bat. Melissa and I went with another friend or ours, Melissa. The line-drive foul came flying at us; the girls ducked and I stretched out my left arm and caught the ball. Since I find it so anathema to draw attention to myself I didn't jump up and down like a clown; additionally, my personal motto is "Act like you've been there before". If I expected to catch a ball coming right at me, why should I act so surprised? Anyway, it's on the list because Jackson now has the baseball but I've wanted to catch one for Ethan the past three years. We'll see.

2. Lived in Portugal. When I was 19, I was able to live in Portugal as part of a church mission experience. I took a language class for a couple of months that prepared me to ask "What time does the train leave?" and "Where is the bathroom?". Besides the experience of meeting some really great people, I enjoyed living in a country that not only played a pivotal role in the discovery of the western world, but also knew how to make the finest desserts in the world. When I think of Portugal, I think of the Monument of Discoverers and Belem pastries.

3. White-water rafted the New River. When I was 21/22, I took a summer internship that took me to West Virginia. As part of a weekend get-together, we took a guided rafting trip up the New River. The New River, for geography enthusiasts, is the only North American river to flow South-to-North. I do plan to white-water raft again, just not that river, so it makes the list.

4. Visited and saw game at Fenway Park. This occurred over the summer and was written about earlier, so I won't revisit it now. Needless to say, Fenway is a one-of-a-kind cathedral any baseball fan would enjoy visiting. I thoroughly enjoyed the three hours sitting by Pesky's pole and keeping score on a summer afternoon.

5. Walked up the spiral stairs inside the Texas Capitol Dome. About three years ago, I took a trip to Austin and my friend Bonnie arranged for me to have a guided tour up to the dome of the Capitol. The tour started on the third floor; my guide and I entered some spiral stairs that slowly wound around the inside of the dome. As one climbs higher and the diamater of each level lessens, it brings you closer toward the middle of the dome. The urban legend is that when the Pink Building was being built, a worker fell from several stories and landed right in the middle of the first foor. I couldn't help but imagining his experience as I realized the only thing that kept me from his alleged fate was a couple of tight bolts. Anyway, I got up and down without permanent traumatic damage and got a certificate to prove it.

6. Played golf during a tropical storm. This was just stupidity on our part. Chris, my dad, and I had a golf weekend scheduled several years ago and weren't gonna let a little rain get in the way. It's not like it was a bona fide hurricane or anything. Anyway, we had a tee time at Pecan Valley in San Antonio. It's a great venue; the course hosted the 1968 PGA championship when Palmer lost the tournament on the 72nd hole. It was only sprinkling when we started but was a full storm by the time we got a few holes out. Well, we were so soaked that it was senseless to go back to the clubhouse; so we kept on playing. I know we didn't finish the round because we finished up when we couldn't get across a gulley to the next tee box. I've played in the rain since, and will do it again, just not in a tropical storm.