Birthdays and Weddings: Life outside the lines in the VBL
Now that August 2008 is in the books we can take a look back at some more of the sacrifices that are made by the families and friends of the people running the VBL each season.
One of the things I noticed this season was how many people celebrated their birthdays at a ball park during the season. The second thing I noticed was how many times it was business as usual for most of them. In Luray I remember sharing my thoughts on Donnie Middleton spending the night of his 70TH birthday cleaning up Bulldog Field after that nights game and Diane Buckley (Wranglers GM) spending her special night trying to keep the nights efforts on course.
Teresa Wease shared with me that her son Matt has spent each and everyone of his 18 birthdays with the Turks. Some have been road games and some have been home games but all 18 have been celebrated at a baseball diamond with his extended family. The Turks nation did get to celebrate a special birthday this season up at Haymarket when Lisa K. turned 50. I was fortunate enough to be there to help sing Happy Birthday to this special lady while mugging for some photos with the entire group of 30+ Turks fans that had made the 99 mile each way trek.
The cost of doing business all summer long sometimes equals making choices. The amount of Weddings that have taken place the past three weeks made me stop and think some more. I remember listening to Dizzy talk about his upcoming wedding during my first trip down to Covington. A friend asked him when the big day was going to take place and the answer was "Right after the end of the Season".
The second wedding of note was Waynesboro skipper Lawrence Nesselrodt and his new bride. Their big day just happened and it also involved a number of VBL folks. I want to add my congrats to the new Mr. & Mrs. Nesselrodt.
Wedding number three that just happened was the daughter of Bob and Teresa Wease down in Richmond this past week-end. I hear that the ceremony went well and that the Wease's will back hard at work on the 2009 Turks roster before you know it. Now these are just the weddings that I stumbled across in my conversations with a few folks over the last month.
I had to smile when I look back to my own thoughts on the Summer of 2008 in relation to the VBL. The ride was non-stop for Rebecca and I but I won't dare complain because I know that we were just two of a few hundred that put a big part of life on hold in an attempt to make the 2008 VBL season more enjoyable. The deeper you look at the folks behind the VBL the more amazing the story becomes...
One of the things I noticed this season was how many people celebrated their birthdays at a ball park during the season. The second thing I noticed was how many times it was business as usual for most of them. In Luray I remember sharing my thoughts on Donnie Middleton spending the night of his 70TH birthday cleaning up Bulldog Field after that nights game and Diane Buckley (Wranglers GM) spending her special night trying to keep the nights efforts on course.
Teresa Wease shared with me that her son Matt has spent each and everyone of his 18 birthdays with the Turks. Some have been road games and some have been home games but all 18 have been celebrated at a baseball diamond with his extended family. The Turks nation did get to celebrate a special birthday this season up at Haymarket when Lisa K. turned 50. I was fortunate enough to be there to help sing Happy Birthday to this special lady while mugging for some photos with the entire group of 30+ Turks fans that had made the 99 mile each way trek.
The cost of doing business all summer long sometimes equals making choices. The amount of Weddings that have taken place the past three weeks made me stop and think some more. I remember listening to Dizzy talk about his upcoming wedding during my first trip down to Covington. A friend asked him when the big day was going to take place and the answer was "Right after the end of the Season".
The second wedding of note was Waynesboro skipper Lawrence Nesselrodt and his new bride. Their big day just happened and it also involved a number of VBL folks. I want to add my congrats to the new Mr. & Mrs. Nesselrodt.
Wedding number three that just happened was the daughter of Bob and Teresa Wease down in Richmond this past week-end. I hear that the ceremony went well and that the Wease's will back hard at work on the 2009 Turks roster before you know it. Now these are just the weddings that I stumbled across in my conversations with a few folks over the last month.
I had to smile when I look back to my own thoughts on the Summer of 2008 in relation to the VBL. The ride was non-stop for Rebecca and I but I won't dare complain because I know that we were just two of a few hundred that put a big part of life on hold in an attempt to make the 2008 VBL season more enjoyable. The deeper you look at the folks behind the VBL the more amazing the story becomes...
