Ty Clark

Our suspicions were confirmed when we received neither owl nor letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (though, technically, we could receive one prior to the next school year, yes?), but it was still the happiest of birthdays for our 11-year-old Ty.

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The sheer dumb luck of having a Wednesday birthday in the Crawford household makes it necessary to receive gifts on a Tuesday...the inconvenience was more than offset by yet another Wii time-waster...

and this amazing bat. I'm still mesmerized by the fact that a whittled down and polished piece of wood can inspire this level of reaction, but, there you are. Birthday dinner was served at Gunther Toody's, a fabulous '50-s themed diner just up 'in town'.

Wednesday is anathema in this family - if you need to be there, it's scheduled on a Wednesday evening. Between the hours of 6 and 8. So, Wednesday, October 12, we had a birthday, as well as pack meeting wherein our boy was awarded his Arrow of Light and crossed over to Boy Scouts, and, not a group of people prone to lounging about haplessley, said boy was promptly afterward trundled over to the not-even-remotely-close ballfield where his fall ball team geared up for their first playoff game.

But that's all we had on the agenda. Before Ty went on to hit a ground triple allowing the go-ahead runs in the game and accordingly awarded the Offensive Player of the game, his magnificent 11-yr-old scout leader, Monte Pierce, walked us through the drill of what to expect as Ty continues through Scouting...

Ty knew all the right answers and gestures for the whole shebang, which, if you know Ty at all, is crucial - he's not one to wing it.

Proud and happy days. Payoff days, if you will, for the seemingly endless shutting between practices and camps and meetings. Eleven years of plain good fun with a darling boy for whom we will be forever grateful, who has taught us so much, required so much and given so much.