"It's your fault"

Matt came home with an extra sheet of math homework on Monday, the result of an 'educational trip' that kept the kids out of school last Friday.  Even though he was anxious to go outside and play with a new friend who is moving into the house across the street, Matt needed to complete both sheets before he could leave the house.  Begrudgingly, he finished his assignments and was gone.

Flash forward to the bus stop Tuesday morning.  This is where I learned it was all my fault he had TWO sheets of homework instead of just one like the rest of his friends... if only I wouldn't have taken him to the Phillies game Thursday night, this never would have happened to him.

No "thanks, Mom" for one last chance to head out to the ballpark this season, no "I had a great time" exploring the Lancaster Science Factory on Friday afternoon.  Just "It's your fault I had more homework". 

It didn't take long for my more grateful son to return, but that one moment at the bus stop will go a long way toward making me feel much less guilty if the Phillies make it to the World Series and I leave him (and his sister) at Grammy's house while I head down to the game.

Just thinking about it reminds me of similar experience I had growing up.  My uncle was the penalty time keeper for the Flyers for many years.  He shared season tickets with a colleague - fantastic seats, front row near the blue line.  A few times a year, he'd share the tickets with my mom and she'd alternate between taking my brother and me.  I think I was 12 the first time I went to a game and it began a love affair I had with the team through the 80s.

In 1987, the Flyers were playing the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Finals; my aunt called, wondering if Bob and I would be interested in attending Game 6 - a game the Flyers won (though they went on to lose the series two nights later in Edmonton).  I can't recall a thing about how Bob and I had been behaving, but my mom would later tell me that we were so awful that instead of letting us go, she and my aunt used the tickets instead.  She didn't tell us she was going; it was years later before we learned about it.

If the Phillies do make it to the World Series and if I do actually get tickets (two big ifs given how the team has been playing since clinching the NL East over the weekend), I seriously won't take the kids, though it will have nothing to do with the extra homework Matt might come home with. 

But as a consolation prize, I'll be happy to stand on Broad Street with them a second time to celebrate a championship.

A city celebrates - October 31, 2008