Hope incarnate--welcome boys of Summer!

As Spring inches along yielding little but Oregon's liquid sunshine, each year at this time I find myself with that little twinge of excitement--baseball's Opening Day.

I'm a dinosaur of sorts in this way, I guess. I love baseball. I love going to the games. They're rhythmic and methodical--an athlete's chess game. Yeah..my beloved sport has been tarnished by greed and drugs and stupidity. Unfortunately most all sports at the professional level have issues like these. But for me, the romanticism and beauty of baseball somehow remains current and fresh.

Opening Day holds a special kind of romance. Its a clean slate. Everyone starts out the season in the same place. The long 162 game slog ahead is just underway.

I didn't fall in love with baseball until I fell in high school puppy love while in the 12th grade. My high school boyfriend played varsity baseball. As a dutiful girlfriend I went to his games, sitting in the bleachers cheering him on. It wasn't long though before my devotion and support for him was transcended into an admiration and love for the game.

So welcome boys of Summer. For today at least, my team is at the top of the Division.

Hope springs eternal.