Day 18: Cubs 1, Pirates 0

A distraction is simply a chance to re-choose God.

-Thomas Keating

My parents are out of town, so at 10:30 last night I went to their house to check on the cats. When I got back, Jaimie was already in bed. The Cubs game was in the eighth inning and I went outside to listen to the end.

One of my favorite feelings is leaving an air-conditioned room and stepping into the warm night air. I went back inside my apartment simply so I could experience the feeling again.

I cracked open a Kombucha and put my feet on the rail. The Cubs took a one run lead into the bottom of the ninth inning. There is something so pleasant about listening to baseball on the radio. It’s like having a picture painted with words. My brain can see it while my eyes are free to look at other things. So thats what I did. I listened to this game being played in Pittsburgh while my eyes watched the sky in Greenville. Lighting flashed in the distance. A breeze blew softly against my skin. This was a beautiful moment. I felt great. It’s ironic, I thought to myself, the better I feel, the closer I get to that next chemo. I took a sip of my drink. The fermentation felt amazing on my stomach. I wiggled my toes and put the distraction out of my mind. Don’t ruin Friday by what’s going to happen Tuesday.

Just then the moon started to appear behind the clouds. Not fully, just a partial view. Like what happens when you put a thin piece of paper over an object and gently rub it with the side of a pencil. It was a beautiful way to see the moon. Beautiful because of the clouds. Beautiful because it was smeared. Beautiful because the view wasn’t perfect.

The Cubs pitcher put two men on base with one away. Joe Madden brought in another reliever. Lighting filled the sky, but there was no thunder. The danger was in the distance. I was free to enjoy the beauty. The Pirates batter hit a ball to David Bote, the Cubs backup third basemen. He stepped on the bag and rifled the ball to Anthony Rizzo at first base.

Game over.

Cubs won 1-0.

I stepped back inside my air-conditioned apartment, curled up next to Jaimie.

Tuesday will come but it ain’t here yet.

I closed my eyes, and quickly fell asleep.