Keep on Plugging Away

Be generous like Roberto was in someone's time of need.

When the New Year began, my brother and I started going through cruise control in our 1978 MLB Replay (I'm American League, he's National). Ending this month, I have rolled 133 games of the A.L. Replay, going from game #212 (May 15th) on New Year's Day, while rolling Game #345 (June 4th) this morning. I have also rolled 40 home UAL games in a mail-in league that I am, along with a 1993 N.L. Championship Series replay that went all 7 games.

All in all, I rolled 180 games since the New Year, but in the last 3 weeks, I have rolled 18 games of my 1978 A.L. Replay & had to play my 10 UAL games, which I barely had the energy to play given the circumstances. Only 28 games or less in 21 days or so -- A huge difference considering the pace prior to the outbreak. 

The Coronavirus outbreak hit all of us hard on so many levels, effecting our way of living, and our own psyches. On my two off-nights, I can easily log at least 20 APBA games if I wanted to, but with all the distractions it's kind of hard to find the motivation.

I will say recently though, it seems that the APBA community has been very active. Many of the guys have started new projects in the last week, and are really having fun with them. I think we are plugging away at the games in ways to keep our mind off the depressing news. Their posts have inspired me to continue with our project the best that we could do, and it's this wonderful game that takes us back to places like 1978... The year of Ron Guidry and the days that relievers like Bob Stanley could go at least 2 innings, if not 3 or 4 innings at a time.

This is also a time to help those in needs in your communities. Becky and I, were blessed with help provided by our APBA community, friends & family, after she had a cancerous tumor removed from her right lung in November. 

We wanted to try to return the favor in some way, by helping someone in our local community, and we decided to help our upstairs neighbor who has two young teenage girls, and were already struggling before this pandemic broke out. We stopped by with some strawberry strudel bars, a card, and a gift card to Meijer grocery store for $50. It was the least we could do, the way that we looked at it, we were in the same boat once, and in many ways what effects them can effect us. I couldn't live with myself if I known someone was starving, when all they needed was someone to offer some help.

She didn't open the card at first when I was speaking with her, but the next morning she came by our apartment, and you could see the glow in her face, and was very thankful. She joked that since she was a diabetic, her girls had no problem rubbing it in, which mean't more Strawberry Streusel for them.

This is also a time to make sure your wives, husbands, children are absolutely okay. Just because they are not talking about the situation doesn't mean its not on their mind. I had to nudge the wife a little the other night when I noticed she was more quiet than usual, and she opened up about much more than I ever expected, she was telling me about all her worries while we were cuddled up on the bed together. She mentioned that the news and Facebook have both been overwhelming for her as of late, which I can completely understand. I now watch the news for about 15 minutes a day, to see if there is any updates, and I do that when she's not in the room. My wife has had a history with anxiety and depression issues, and I am glad that she communicated with me, instead of keeping it all inside. 

It's absolutely alright to be scared, it's absolutely alright to share your feelings.

It's good to keep those communication lines open, so please keep communicating with all your family members. Try to reconnect on things that you love to do, while keeping them busy, by not being saturated with the depressing news channels and limit your Facebook time as well.

In the last couple days alone, less news and less Facebook, has actually put me in a much better and happier place, while giving me a boost of motivation on doing my APBA projects, while catching up on some shows with the wife, while we also played some Mario Kart as well.

So whatever it that helps you get by, let's keep plugging away at our APBA projects together, while plugging away at making our 'new normal' lives as normal as they can be. We can't just lie down, just like our doctors, nurses, truckers, and cashiers, we need to keep plugging away at the things that we love and for the people that we love.

Many 66's to all of you, good health to your families & be safe! 

New post coming up on the 1978 Replay - Two-Month Report