Second honeymoons...

We bought a new refrigerator last week.  To our consternation, this house was fridgeless when we moved in ten years ago.  So the fridge we bought in a rush was too small for us, but we had to be able to fit it in until we could afford to update the old kitchen.  By the time we had had enough of it, that fridge no longer made ice and was leaking cold air like a sieve even though it was only ten years old.  The new one is the fridge of my dreams.  It makes ice and holds everything the old one did with room to spare.  That’s cool!  No pun intended.  So what if we probably paid a grand plus more for it than that old piece of “you know what.”  Sometimes you get what you pay for.

Seeing the new sparkling clean refrigerator sparked something in me and while I was doing some cleaning yesterday, I came across some old baseball game ticket stubs I had thrown into a dusty ceramic pot we bought on a vacation out west years ago.  One of the stubs was from the Boston Red Sox game that Greg and I attended on our honeymoon…our first time in Fenway Park.  The face value of the ticket was $3.00.  Granted, we sat in the bleachers, but $3.00?  Wow!  The seats we sit in these days have about a $90 face value…meaning we only go to two games a year and know we are lucky for that. 

  We now sit in better seats…but are they 80-some dollars better?

Well, it made me think about the way things have changed over the years.  Though we paid a lot for our new refrigerator, we will probably enjoy it much more than that old one that I never was happy with.  This one seems to be better in so many ways.

  Maybe it’s worth all that money.

On the other hand, I can remember going to the ballgame back in the day.  It was good, cheap entertainment for us when we lived in Cleveland.  We went pretty much any time we wanted.  The ballpark was old and decrepit but we always had lots of fun.  The Indians were not so good, but we loved them…especially when they managed to beat the Yankees.  One cold and nasty night in May of 1981, we actually witnessed the Len Barker perfect game.  What a thrill!  While it didn’t rank up there with the birth of my kids, for this baseball lover, it was pretty darn close.  And that game we went to on our honeymoon…the couple who sat behind us was on their honeymoon, too.  We took each other’s pictures.  I hope they are still happy and every now and then think of us when they come across that photo or maybe that old ticket stub.

I have no point here.  It’s just that things change all the time and, for me, change is sometimes hard to get used to.  I know that just because something costs a lot, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s better…but, you know, sometimes it is better.

  Sometimes you actually do get what you pay for.

  And sometimes a $3.00 ticket can make a honeymoon special.

Now, my bubblies get to stand up straight.

Flash from the past:  Greg with our friends Mike and Eileen at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland.  Note the Red Sox fan in the background.  Red Sox Nation was alive and well even then.

Another flash from the past.  We're getting ready for Opening Day in Cleveland with my brothers Rob and Mark.  The old photo of us at Fenway is in our slide collection and hasn't been digitalized yet.  One of these days...