Bookends

"PUT that coffee DOWN."

Osamu had no idea he was doing a perfect impersonation of Alec Baldwin in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross.

He wanted me to play soccer with him. In the house. He told me put my coffee down, in very clear terms for a four-year-old. I found a place to safely set down my freshly brewed hot coffee and kicked his little soccer ball around with him for a few minutes. He kicks it super hard, but it's fine. It's a little deflated and it's the size of a tennis ball. Technically he could knock something over and cause mayhem, but that's the price of fun.

I saw Glengarry Glen Ross when it came out. I was a senior in high school. It was 1992. No one wanted to go with me so I went by myself. It made an impression on me. The dialogue was like a coarse symphony. I found a copy of the play at the bookstore. My drama teacher saw it and didn't say anything, but I could tell she was not approving of my choice in playwrights. It was around that time that I discovered Sam Shepard, and then my reading material drifted into Jack Kerouac and Pablo Neruda and John Irving. I was on the edge of university and I felt inspired, yet inhibited mentally somehow. It was around this time I had my first panic attack. It freaked me out to no end. I should've told someone or gone to see a doctor, but it subsided and I went about my life.

The boys and I headed out mid-morning on the subway downtown to see their first pro baseball game. I knew they probably wouldn't make it to the end since baseball is way longer than soccer or basketball and they barely make it to the end of those games.

It was like a festival outside the stadium. At one point there was a wallet on the ground behind a guy who was definitely going to get up and walk away so I said, "Excuse me" three times before he noticed me so I could continue, "I think your wallet fell on the ground."

The boys witnessed the whole thing. My goal is for them to notice when people need help and be proactive. Kenzo has been with me on the bus numerous times when we notice some old lady has forgotten her umbrella and we chase her down to give it back.

I was kind of unprepared for what we were going to experience today. Even though I told the boys that the baseball game vibe is different than soccer and basketball, I don’t think I really understood myself what that meant until we were deep into it. 

Kenzo wanted to make sure everyone knows exactly what this bag is for. "Kenzo and Osamu's ninja stars."

Snack time in front of Sendai Station.

A mega-sized beer with fries and fried chicken. The boys just stole my fries and ran amok.

Osamu's favorite shaved ice flavor: Blue Hawaii.

Of course Kenzo made a new friend. Kyosuke and his big sister. They played all afternoon and Kenzo cried when we had to leave. The game was over and they were gonna close the stadium, though.

On the way from the baseball stadium to the subway station we stopped and took a break in front of this old temple gate.

There's this weird bookending game I like to play. I pick a specific moment in my life that has pop culture significance. Like, say, when the now meme-worthy movie Glengarry Glen Ross came out. Then I figure out how long it's been since that thing and I figure out what was happening the same amount of time before that thing.

It's been 30 years, 8 months, and 25 days since Glengarry Glen Ross came out.

The date 30 years, 8 months, and 25 days before that was April 28, 1961.

The most popular movie in America was West Side Story. The most popular song was "Runaway" by Del Shannon.