Dad at The Playground

On June 26, 2023, I wrote that I got my boys dressed and rode my electric cargo bike with them on the back through the annual Pride Parade taking pictures of ourselves as the floats went by. However, we quickly headed out to the Embarcadero because we had tickets to the Giants’ game.

We headed to the deli in Bayside Village which my family always visits before the game and miraculously made it before my brother got there with his friends. I got something for each of us and then we headed over to meet Dad at the playground next to the stadium for his 83rd birthday.

My older sister’s family was already there with a few cousins and family friends. I had a drink and we ate sandwiches. A little later my boys played in the playground with their cousins as they arrived.

I let everyone go into the stadium with my boys and waited outside until their mother arrived. We were with my younger sister until her husband had finished parking. Then we stopped at the valet to park the bikes and went inside.

The boys were ecstatic to see their mom. I sat with my older sister and my brother’s friends - near my dad. My nieces appeared in the second inning with their college friends. I had resolved not to drink inside the park because it is so expensive.

I got a chance to coach the boys on the pitch clock and we counted outs, etc. My brother’s buddy and I noted the pitch clock really speeds up the game. The Giants were losing by the sixth inning and there was a lot of tension heading into the ninth.

Austin Slater had four fouls all of which had been 80 mph. One was a line drive into our seats which I tried to catch – I nearly broke my thumb! After it bounced off my hand, it landed in some guy's lap behind me. My niece got a great photo of my boy after the game with the ball. His mother took the ball home in her purse.

After the game 10 of us walked to the bike valet. However, I ended up out on the field somehow with my two boys running the bases. Their mom texted that she had caught a ferry home to the East Bay.

Back at the valet. I got my bike and walked with the party to Willie Mays Plaza, where we all said goodbye to each other. I rode home on the cargo bike.

Later everyone showed up on Valencia, and we all went to have pizza which was great. I walked home with the boys and we quickly wound down. My brother’s friends stayed with us in the Mission and arrived at the apartment after we had all gone to sleep but they had a key.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.