Still remembering October, 2004

If you are a Red Sox fan, as I am, this time of year brings back the memory of the World Series win in 2004. What made it special, though, was having to beat the Yankees in the play-offs to get there. Coming back after being down three games to none made it magical and the World Series sweep of the Cardinals almost anticlimactic. When I think back on the American League Championship Series, I remember trying to stay up until the end of Game 7. The Red Sox were well ahead and I was exhausted from the previous nights. So, I went to bed not really being sure if the Red Sox had won or not. A friend wrote me the next morning saying I must be really happy because the Red Sox had won. By then I knew they had won but earlier that morning, I was still trying to find out for sure. Here is the note I wrote back to him explaining how my morning had gone:

I wasn't able to stay up until the end of the game last night but went to sleep when the Sox were ahead 8 - 1. Surely they couldn't collapse that badly. Woke up early this morning to hear how the game ended but [our 2-year old daughter at the time] heard me getting up and wanted to come downstairs with me. She needed something to eat so I thought I'd just give her some formula quickly. No open cans so I had to search for a can. Then I couldn't find the opener for the can. As I'm looking for the opener, I keep slipping on something on the floor. I wipe that up and keep looking for something to open the can of formula.

In the meantime, I put some water on the stove to make tea. Still no can opener. I keep slipping on something on the floor. I wipe up more of what looks like cooking oil. Finally, I figure I'll never find the can opener (and [our daughter] has started yelling for something, anything, to eat) so I try to use the electric can opener but the can is too tall. Finally, I'm able to move the electric can opener over to the side of the counter (after moving a ton of dishes out of the way) so I can fit the can of formula under it.

I'm STILL slipping on something on the kitchen floor and then I notice it's coming from the refrigerator. I open up the refrigerator but see nothing obvious so I go back to opening up the can of formula ([our daughter] is about to tear down the house if she doesn't get something quick). I give her the formula and go back to the refrigerator to find out that some salad dressing has flipped on its side in the refrigerator. It wouldn't have mattered but the cap hadn't been put on tightly so it went all over the place. Then the tea water starts to whistle on the stove.

I run to get the teapot but it's soaking in some dirty dishwater so I use an old teapot with a cracked spout, throw some tea bags in and pour in the water. Then it's back to clean up the refrigerator. I'm finally getting the spill cleaned up (along with a bunch of other things that got dressing all over them) and I hear the dog whining who needs to go out. I get back from that and I can hold off going to the bathroom no longer. I FINALLY get back to the living room about half an hour after I first woke up and turn on the TV to find that the Sox did indeed win the game last night but the station breaks for a million commercials before I finally got the final score!

It was all OK in the end but the suspense almost killed me. But, there were actually some Red Sox fans who waited 86 years to see their team win the World Series again so I guess it wasn't so bad if I had to wait a half-hour to get the results of a play-off.