When I first started this blog one year ago (happy birthday, blog!) I thought that the slow, simple, and beautiful game of baseball reflected the same energy that I experience on my Yoga mat.
Simple on the outside, but intricate and complex and insanely sweet on the inside.
Deep, yeh?
But, now I’ve realized that the slow, simple, and beautiful game of baseball is also a lot like the barn that we are building …
… and building …. and building.
And, the second half of the baseball season …
And, the second half of the barn building …
begins now.
Our old barn served us well. It had been a good old barn for many decades before we turned up. The previous owners probably used it as an actual barn. We used it as extra storage for items that didn’t mind that it listed a bit to the north, the wood was worn thin, the walls were porous, and it rained as hard inside as out.
It’s hard to say goodbye to a good old barn. In the same way, it’s hard to say goodbye to baseball players as their better days, their greatest games, fade.
I still miss Cal Ripken.*
But, hope springs eternal.
And, just as spring training got underway, we started a new barn.
Now you see it …
Now you don’t …
And, as the baseball season has worn on, so has the barn building.
The barn’s been slowed by paperwork and rain delays.
It’s been slowed by crew members being traded to new teams, being put on the DL, or just plain disappearing.
But, it’s coming together.
And, as the second half of baseball begins, our barn project continues, too.
Still waiting for a roof.
And, some walls.
But we saved the old barn door and it will be put up inside somewhere.
A place of honor in our barn “Hall of Fame.”
Time moves forward for barns and baseball.
We’ll have a new barn.
And, Manny Machado. (You gotta watch this …)
And, the World Series will come. And, the Orioles will be there. And, the barn will be awesome.
I’m sure of it.
My amazing Barn Dude – the Player-Manager of the Barn Building – will tell you that the barn is well beyond halfway. It’s well into the playoffs. This is good for us since it means the barn will be a real barn before October. (Barn Dude’s not a baseball fan, but he remembers seeing the Red Sox at Fenway. What is it with all these Red Sox fans in my world?)
*And, Billy.
The Baseball Bloggess 
Happy birthday to your blog and good luck with your barn. Almost scared to tell you I’m another of those darn Red Sox fans so I can’t wish the Orioles too much good luck, but can’t wait until the playoffs. Hope both teams are there and the Yankees get to watch them from home.
I LOVE Red Sox fans (except when the Sox play the O’s!) I’ve discovered that Red Sox and Cubs fans are some of the most passionate, interested, and smart baseball fans. I may be the only Orioles fan who actually reads my posts!
Glad you saved the barn door. Are you old enough to remember when people paid top dollar for old barn wood to use in remodeling their homes? And I didn’t know that Cal’s brother played at the same time he did. In fact, I didn’t know Cal had a ball-player brother. Duh!
Our kitchen floor is made of reclaimed barn wood! Billy Ripken was a great (and unsung) 2nd baseman. Today he’s one of the best analysts on the MLB Network. It couldn’t have been easy being little brother playing in Cal’s shadow (and, for a time, being managed by their dad)!
Happy birthday, blog. I enjoy it. What about great baseball names? Just watched a Colorado Rockies relief pitcher named Outman shut down the Cubs in the eighth.
GN
Sent from my iPad
Outman is not such a bad name for a pitcher … better than the Reds’ ace Homer Bailey or the A’s Grant Balfour!
Oh, and to just clear up the confusion … Barn Dude is a REAL woodworking dude (check out his website in the post). He’s doing ALL the art and the work and the creating of this barn. We just stand and watch and make weird suggestions and point at things a lot.
Happy Blog Birthday!!!!!!! I like the barn/baseball analogy. And that Machado play was awesome…
Manny’s hitting has gone a bit cold … but to watch him in the field is like ballet … it just looks so easy, so perfect. And it seems that in every single game he makes an amazing play that seems effortless and impossible at the same time.
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