Baseball Widow

Halloween, The World Series and Two Children's Birthdays Converge: A New Twilight Zone Episode

October 27, 2007 12:53 PM | 0 Comments

It's October. The leaves are swirling. Halloween is approaching. NFL and NCAA football are in full swing. The MLB World Series is about to begin. And, two of my three children were born during this month, so there are two birthday parties, two sacrificial offerings to be planned and staged. If that's not pressure, I don't understand the definition.

Right now, as we speak, my husband Bryan and 10-year-old son Austin are alternately groaning and yelling at the TV. The Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians are duking it out for the American League Championship Series, which determines which team will go to the World Series and play against the Colorado Rockies. Frankly, I don't care whether they're wearing red socks or white socks or dirty ones (with the exception that the latter would require Clorox), but it makes me reminisce about the birth of my son Austin 10 years ago, about how I unwittingly spawned another sports fan, who would seal my fate as a Sports Widow. An interesting side point is that my son Austin and his Dad Bryan are rooting for different teams. Because Austin likes those despots, the New York Yankees, he is a fan of the Cleveland Indians. Bryan, on the other hand, is cheering for the Boston Red Sox.

Ten years ago today, my son Austin was born. I guess the circumstances surrounding his birth predisposed him toward a life of sport and a love of baseball. When Bryan and I checked into Seattle's Swedish Hospital, the waiting room was filled with mostly men, who were glued to the aerial TV. The Seattle Mariners were playing the Baltimore Orioles in the Division Series playoffs. It's one thing to be in your own home processing basketfuls of laundry or cleaning your oven while your fan is idly watching TV, but the level of aggravation is taken to new depths when you are a first time mom in the midst of labor, painful, agonizing labor. Mercifully, while we were in the waiting room, the Mariners lost. At this point, I was 7 cm dilated and fully effaced. My disappointed husband carried on the crusade by supplying a steady commentary of my contractions. When the monitor began forming peaks, he announced what was coming. "OHHHHH, this is going to be a doozy." He's lucky to be alive today. Then, miraculously, Austin was born, all 9 1lbs and 14.4 ounces of him. My doctor's exact words were: "Holy sh-t, he's huge."

Since then, Austin has turned into a huge sports fan. Like the Twilight Zone episode in which the earwig has finally exited its host's brain, I discover that the earwig was pregnant and laid eggs. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Have you spawned more sports fans in your life? Share your story.