"There's a smile on my face
For the whole human race
Why it's almost like being in love"
             

Every September  I travel to Nova Scotia  to check on some business interests I have there. It is usually late in the month when I go and the leaves are changing from their summer green to  the beautiful pastel gold, yellow, orange and red. This sets off a minor panic in me for It is the final proof that the baseball season is almost over. 

I hate this time of year. I watch every game with a level of anxiety that makes no sense to me. Each game is a reminder that there are only a few more left. I find myself rearranging my schedule to watch games late in the season that I couldn't be bothered with in July. I keep my Devil Rays tickets and go to every game in the last homestand.

And then the regular season is over. It is playoff time. This year was especially great because my beloved Boston Red Sox were in the mix. The irony is I was rooting for the exact thing that I have always dreaded; a quick end to the World Series. I got what I wanted, a Red Sox sweep. But now there is an emptiness inside. There is no more baseball. I have spent the last four days reading everything I could on the internet about baseball. Mostly the Sox stuff of course. I guess I was trying to get my last baseball "fix". But now I must accept the fact that it is over. Today I removed  all the Sox magnets and stickers from my cars. the final gesture.

This winter will be different though. The skies won't be as grey. The cold will only feel cool. Instead of feeling empty this winter I will be warmed by the fact that the red Sox are the Champions of the World.

In 1947 Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Lowe wrote the music for the broadway play, "Brigadoon". There is a song from that score that echoes my feelings about facing this off season:

What a day this has been
What a rare mood I'm in
Why it's almost like being in love

There's a smile on my face
For the whole human race
Why it's almost like being in love

All the music of life seems to be
(Just) Like a bell that is ringing for me

And from the way that I feel
When the bell starts to peel
I would swear I was falling, I could swear I was falling
- It's almost like being in love

On the bright side...It is only about 120 days until pitchers and catchers report!