Baseball Alumni Weekend

On Saturday Ty and I attended Rice's biennial baseball alumni extravaganza complete with an old[er]-person's exhibition game and a home run derby. The sun made a guest appearance for the first time in months (or so it seemed), leaving most of the attendees simultaneously overjoyed and bright red. My sunglasses were not much help as I peered onto the field through squinted eyes to watch as the group of former college players lined up for their introductions. As each name was called, I marveled at the rich tradition on which the Rice Baseball program was built and found myself oddly drawn to the ubiquity of the baseball pant. I think all ballplayers, past and present, secretly enjoy those man-leggings, and I'm convinced that is part of the appeal of an alumni game. Unlike tennis skirts, they translate well into the over-40 age bracket.

Tyler's intro
After the sizeable group was introduced, the game commenced. I didn't see much of the action because I was catching up with a fun group of girls, most of whom I know from Rice, who just happen to be attached to former players.


Thanks to my friend, Annie (right), I noticed when Tyler was heading up to bat. It's been a solid few months since I've seen that curiously low batting stance, and it reminded me that it won't be long before I'll be watching it at least 4 times per night.

Tyler faced former Rice pitcher, Steven Herce, who resurrected his blazing fastball for the occasion. Several pitches into the at-bat, I watched as one of those heaters caught Tyler square in the ankle. He jokingly charged the mound before heading to first, which amused us girls up in the stands. Definitely a fitting end to his only plate appearance on the day as it gave Ty a chance to bring up the one Rice Baseball record he proudly holds: Hit By Pitch.

After the game, we climbed up in the shade to relax for a while before leaving the ballpark. While enjoying a much needed respite from the blinding sun, I caught some cute Rice Baseball/Soccer Alumni combos on camera.

Jessie and Craig Stansberry

Maria and Paul Janish

Clearly this shot of Tyler and me was not very well thought out.

Before the day was out, I found a few more long lost friends.

The newly married Matty Moake.

Former team manager extraordinaire, Logan Greer.

Julia!

Craig Crow

And, last but not least, my favorite Rice Baseball fan and Reckling Park greeter, Joe!

That night, we headed to Rice's "R" Room for a true Texas dinner of chicken-fried steak and mashed potatoes. I think everyone left with sore abs as a result of all the baseball tales that were told that night. You know you had a memorable college sports experience when outsiders such as myself can appreciate the stories of locker room shenanigans, road trip adventures and, of course, coaching confrontations.

This was a familiar look that night.

Great turnout.

More storytelling.

If you've ever competed on a team of any kind, you know how enjoyable it is to spend time with people who share the same unique background. Conversations are always easy to come by and you're left feeling refreshed and satisfied that you are inexorably linked to a quality group of individuals by experiences both positive and negative.

*Happy Monday*

Hallelujah!

I'm convinced miracles happen more often than we think. We're just too content to chalk them up to coincidence or good luck instead of the hand of God. Well, let me tell you, there's no doubt in my mind that I witnessed a mini miracle today!

As some of you know, I had another follow-up appointment this morning where my doctor was going to decide once and for all whether or not I needed sutures (otherwise known as the stitches of death) to hold down the tissue graft in my eye. I'll be honest, it wasn't looking good. My appointment was even scheduled close to lunch so that my doctor could walk me over to the little surgicenter in the neighboring offices and do the stitches on the spot.

Multiple times in the past couple of days I found my mind wandering to that little room. I saw the crank they would use to hold my eye open, and I saw the needle. And then I saw myself having a complete meltdown right there in the chair followed by extreme embarrassment over the fact that I just made a fool out of myself in front of my doctor who I often see outside of this unfortunate eye mess. Of course, this was all in my head, but if it weren't for my orders to keep my eye away from water, I'm fairly sure these day "mares" would have resulted in spontaneous hysterics. Instead, Tyler got to see those tears channeled elsewhere (i.e. heavy breathing and obnoxious moaning noises).

Thankfully, I didn't end up having to see what that little room in my vivid imagination actually looks like in real life. With my head in that little contraption they use to examine your brain, I mean your eyes, I was put through the usual motions.

Look left.

Okay, now look right.

Now look quickly right to left.

Now things are going to get a little bit tougher. Look right, left, right, back right, up, down then two complete circles. Just kidding with that last part.

After the first couple of eye maneuvers. My doctor said (with a decidedly content and satisfied tone) that he thought things were looking much better. At this point, he was still peering at my eyeballs through that complicated looking apparatus, but I was so excited that a huge smile just snuck up on me. This, of course, posed a problem. If you've ever seen me smile, you know that my cheeks creep all the way up to my eyebrows, or at least pretty close. I just couldn't wipe the grin off of my face until I actually sat back and composed myself.

Now all I have to worry about is a different kind of gross looking growth that can sometimes pop up when huge chunks of your eye are missing. I'm just going to cross that bridge when I get to it. I didn't know how much today's appointment was weighing on me until I left today and found myself skipping to the car. I don't even want to think about another possible complication.

So, I promised that I would stay away from eye news for this post, but I didn't know I would have a miracle to report! Though I'm not 100 percent yet, I'm starting to feel more and more like my old self.

Just for fun, here's a classic baby picture. Dear goodness, I was a massive child!

*Happy Tuesday*

The Saga Continues....

It's been about four days since my surgery, and I think I've regressed as far as discomfort is concerned. The good news is that my doctor actually told me that would happen as fluids are accumulating underneath my tissue graft. You don't really think about your eye movement until it hurts to check your blind spot, shave your armpits (sorry, it's true) or look at the person standing next to you. No fun!

Here is a quick shot of the damage. It probably wasn't the best idea to take this with a hat on as it blocks part of the affected eye, but in my current state I really was not in the mood to take multiple pictures of myself.


I went in for my second follow up today where I was poked and prodded so my doctor could decide whether or not I need stitches to hold down the part of my graft that is buckling when I move my eye. Turns out, I have to go back again on Tuesday to get the answer to that terrifying question. My doctor told me that he normally sees patients once after surgery then again in a couple of months. He reiterated how unusual my case was, and how surprised he was at the severity of my pterygium. Then he explained that I would not be put back to sleep if stitches are necessary. He would simply hold my eye open with some sort of instrument, numb my eye with drops and tell me to "look left." That's when he pinched my hand and told me that was the extent of the pain I would feel. Ummm, if we were talking about my skin instead of a fragile optical membrane, I'm pretty sure I'd be okay with it! If he really thinks I'm going to be able to "look left" when I can feel pinching from the needle on my eyeball, he is gravely mistaken. I'm just praying for miracle healing so we don't have to see what will happen if I am put in that situation. Either way, I'm sure it will make for a good blog post;)

It seems ridiculous, but a bad/painful eye really has an effect on the rest of you, and I'm so thankful for my sweet friends and family who have been so encouraging through this process.

In my next post, I promise I will try to be back to my cheery self;)

*Happy Saturday*

Claustrophober-eye

I am a cuddler and Tyler is not. About 3 minutes and 10 seconds from when I first nestle myself under his armpit region, he will sigh and tell me that I'm "claustrophoberizing" him. Tonight, I have the optical brand of claustrophoberization: claustrophober-eye. I am not a huge fan of this eye patch I have been forced to wear since my surgery this morning. My eyeball is claustrophobic, and I don't like it.

The good news is that the surgery went well! Apparently my pterygium was "stubborn" and more deeply rooted than the doctor originally thought, so he was glad we got the surgery done as soon as we did. I survived without any ill effects from anesthesia (or panic for that matter), though I'll admit, I was not nearly as knocked out as they told me I would be during the procedure. I could feel his initial two incisions (scary!), so they had to give me extra numbing drops. Even more disconcerting was that I could hear everything the doctors were saying (i.e. "Let's cauterize that," and "Let's snip this."). Ugh...still makes me shudder.

Tomorrow morning I go in for my post-op doctors appointment where my eye patch will be coming off. I'm a little scared to see the "meaty eye," and I'm hoping that it won't be worse than it would have been otherwise due to how deeply rooted the pterygium was. We shall see!

As traumatic as this whole process was, I was glad to have one of the best opthamologists in Houston, who I knew through my time working at the GTAC. It was so nice to know and really trust my doctor. I'm also incredibly blessed to have such a supportive husband. Tyler has an incredibly compassionate heart, and encourages me every chance he gets. God was so faithful throughout this whole not-so-fun experience and now I can cross "eye surgery" off of my list of things to do before I die. Now that is a reason to smile!



Thanks for all of your prayers!

I would rather....

Tomorrow I am having eye surgery. Tonight I am having a heart attack.

Apparently my years in the sun have come at a cost over and above the wrinkles and age spots that I notice more and more each day. Who knew that excessive sunlight and wind exposure could cause a progressive and extremely irritating growth on the inside of the eyeball? Well, turns out, I did. That's why I started wearing sunglasses on the court over seven years ago despite the fact that playing with eyegear is a particularly tough adjustment for a tennis player.

I assumed my forethought would pay dividends later on in the form of growth-free eyes, but I wasn't so lucky. The pesky culprit is a benign tissue growth called a pterygium, which is harmless until it starts to grow over the cornea, causing permanent vision issues. Over the last 10 months or so, my pterygium has invaded my iris in addition to being constantly red and irritated. As my friend Annie said, "Your green is disappearing!" How depressing. This may come as a surprise to some of you, but I'm not a huge fan of having an asymmetrical iris.

So what is done to take care of such a growth, you ask? Well, there are a couple of options (including gluing a piece of placenta onto my eyeball...yikes), but my doctor chose to go with a cell transplant from another part of my eye. First they will inject my eye with a paralyzing substance, then they will cut out the pterygium and replace the void with my own healthy cells, leaving what my opthamologist described as an eye that will look like "raw meat" for up to six weeks. Somehow all I keep thinking of is the ground sirloin I bought at the grocery store yesterday. Gross. Just gross. Thanks, Doc.

I don't know that many people would look forward to such a procedure, but I will be lucky to emerge without spontaneous vomiting and/or fainting. I can take pain. I can take blood. I can take needles. But not in my eyeball. I just don't "do" eyes. I would rather be forced to walk slowly over hot coals; or have spiky bamboo shoots jammed underneath my fingernails; or be repeatedly immersed in the Artic Ocean. Just don't touch my eyeball.

I find it ironic that my first trip to the eye doctor was not for vision issues, but for a pterygium! Even worse, I may have to start wearing UV blocking contacts to prevent recurrence. Seriously, what are the odds?!

Was this post dramatic? Most likely. But this really is my worst nightmare. I would greatly appreciate any prayers on my behalf. Please pray that the surgery goes smoothly and that my eye quickly goes from "meaty" to normal looking. I appreciate it!

Coaching

I can't believe Tyler and I are only in Houston for about 3 more weeks. Part of me is sad, but there is another part of me, currently buried underneath a solid layer of "fear of the unknown," that is really excited to be with Tyler while he pursues his dream.

Because we are here for such a short time, I needed to find something to keep myself from turning into an unproductive blob during my stay. When my old assistant coach, Elizabeth, who is currently the head women's tennis coach, asked if I was interested in being the team's volunteer assistant, I thought it would be a neat way to share my experiences and hopefully help the next generation of Rice players along the way. In addition, I've been teaching private lessons out of the Rice courts, which is keeping me busy.

The team took a quick trip to Austin this weekend to play Texas on Saturday, and I went along for the ride. Who would have thought that my first trip to that campus would have been as a coach?! UT would not play us while I was at Rice (*eye roll*), so I looked forward to the opportunity to be a part of that match.

During our practice time on Friday night, my former Rice assistant coach, Julie, stopped by. She currently lives in Austin with her family and it was so fun to see her and catch up on life. Elizabeth and Julie are childhood friends and both contributed so much to my college tennis experience. Now, at least temporarily, I, too, have joined the coaching ranks.
Though Rice did not emerge victorious from Saturday's match, all of the girls played their hardest and stood strong against the distinctly superior attitude the Texas team has oozing from its pores.

On the ride home, the girls got a kick out of "Story Time With Blair" where they begged me to tell them tales of tennis teams past. The team was slightly more focused on fun than tennis when I came in my freshman year, which led to some classic stories that we still tell when we all get together. I'll always be thankful to those girls for gently easing me out of my naivete...boy, was I clueless;)

Overall, we had a productive trip to Austin and I look forward to the competition to come.

*Happy Monday*

Rest and Relaxation

Before I get to telling you about our Caribbean adventure, there's a little something I need to clarify first. In my last post, I said something along the lines of "aren't we blessed that Jesus sent his son to earth for us?" Well, let me assure you, I am quite aware that Jesus did not father himself. Ah, typos...

Anyway, here are some pictures from our week of fun in the sun (sort of). We didn't see much of that golden celestial orb during our vacation, but we had a great time anyway. Tyler got to eat whenever he was hungry (i.e. often), and when he wasn't grazing on buffet lines we got to spend some amazing quality time together.

Since we called our little trip an anniversary vacation, Princess Cruises helped us celebrate.

They even gave us a slip to hand to our dinner maitre d' good for one "special celebration." Tyler and I knew what this was, and decided that we would pass on having three or more waiters surround us singing "Happy Anniversary to You!" I quickly tossed the little piece of paper, but later regretted that decision when the couple next to us got their special honeymoon celebration complete with the most amazing looking mini-cake I have ever seen. Anyone who knows me knows that I would have sucked up the embarrassment if I knew I was going to be rewarded by a sweet treat. Oh well...

In order to save money on this cruise, we opted for a windowless stateroom, and I didn't really know what to expect. Would I be claustrophobic? Would I hate the inability to check out the weather before going outside? Turns out, I wasn't bothered by those things at all, and Tyler and I got the best sleep of our lives in our pitch black little cave. Here I am enjoying the majority of our room's square footage. By the end of the trip, Tyler and I were a little sick of tripping over each other in our cramped quarters.

Though we didn't have any planned excursions in the port cities of St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Grand Turk, we definitely did our share of exploration.

The streets of St. Maarten are so colorful! We also loved that the sun managed to stay visible for an entire day.

Our day in St. Thomas was gloomy, but we made the most of it. It was recommended that we take a taxi to the downtown area once we got off the boat, but a security official told us that it was only a two mile walk if we decided to go on foot. Frugal as we are, walking sounded like a great idea and we took off in the direction we were told. Twenty-five minutes of brisk strolling later, there was still no sign of life (at least of the tourist variety). We stuck out like a sore thumb in some of the shadier areas of town, and the drizzling rain wasn't helping matters. Finally, after about 40 minutes of walking, we made it to our destination. Needless to say, we took the $10 cab home. Here's some of what we saw on our trek through St. Thomas.

Chickens! I thought they were cool until I realized you can find them on just about every street corner.
We also found a neat little ballpark.

Iguana! Again, not quite as interesting of a find once you understand that they are all over the place.

I definitely didn't see that fire hydrant pre-picture.
I love old churches!

Our last stop was Grand Turk, and though there isn't much to do on the island, the water here definitely wins the prize for prettiest.

In addition to our little on-shore adventures, Tyler and I had a great time on the ship.
We watched some theatrical productions, which always make me jealous by the end. Seriously, musical theatre is my calling (when I finally learn how to sing and dance, that is).

I also beat Tyler 7-5 in a 12-game ping pong series. He credits my victory to fact that he didn't have his own paddle with him. Whatever.

Last but not least, here are a couple of pictures from our dinners on the ship.

We had so much fun together, but we were glad to get home. We're now enjoying about one more month in Houston before we head back to FL for Spring Training.

*Happy Sunday*