Basking in the Glow of My Sunburn

Sunburns, of course, being as natural for a post-Bones Tournament atmosphere as bubblegum is to baseball players.

We had beautiful weather Thursday, going down, and all day Friday (during which time I went to morning Mass, out for breakfast, and actually did some writing on a fictional work, of all the improbable things), right up until suppertime, when it started to wind and rain. It did that on and off through Registration and into the night, but I remember that more as a good time than as a bad, seeing as it drove me to take shelter (our trailor being full of little siblings) under the awning of my First Cousins Once Removed (Mom's first cousins) and their families (the kids being my Second Cousins). A good evening.

Saturday, the first day of the tournament, we had good weather- nice and sunny. Sunny enough that I sunburned. But if the sun went behind the clouds it was chilly! The wind was nasty, and coming perpendicular to the throwing directions of the games, it made for interesting playing.

My team: Dad, Daniel, Angela, and myself, started off the day with a good winning streak: three wins in a row, before a VERY narrow loss in the fourth game. It's a pity we lost, since we would have qualified for the "playoffs", something Dad hasn't done in 5 years, and something us kids have never done. Anyway, we lost that game, and then the one following. Game 5 was brutal. We got one guard down. One. Worst game I've ever played. We couldn't even hit the penalties. That pretty much wiped us out. We lost Game 6, but by a far more respectable margin. Done for the day, we went back to the campsite for supper, then into Macklin proper for Evening Mass- always my favourite part of the weekend, and not just because the church is now air-conditioned.

It was about this time that I discovered my sunburn, all over my face and neck. I took great cares all through Sunday to keep from burning further, and I seem to have succeeded, but it was too late to do anything about the burns I already had other than lather them in lotion.

Sunday we lost, won, lost, won, lost, getting chucked right out of the 4th Consolation Event by late afternoon, with nary a prize. Still, our overall won/loss record was better than last year- we ended up playing more games, I'm fairly sure. And, as a consolation prize, the 3rd Place Champions (and this out of 320 teams) were family friends- their mom and my mom having been neighbours, classmates, and best friends way back yonder... This was also the first year we ever stayed to watch the finals. A lot more fancy and eventful than I had imagined.

We stayed the night at the campground, and headed back to Olds Monday morning, detouring through Daysland to see Grandma. It was a long, long drive coming home, or felt like it. Time seems to pass a lot slower when travelling the back highways than it does taking Highway 2 (or the Queen Elizabeth II Highway, as we are now supposed to call it). But, Monday being the Long Weekend, it would have been a nightmare on that highway, not to mention slower than mud going through Camrose, which was unloading the Big Valley Jamboree right about then.

So I'm home. And with three days left ere I leave for Massachusetts, I still have what feels like a tonne of stuff to do: get a car (that's a biggie), sort out stuff from the accident (details, details), finish packing out my room (what a mess!), get the KofC treasurer's stuff to my successor (a month late), and be ready to leave the day after I get back.

Fun times!

And do I feel on top of the world! Picking up Angela from Our Lady of Victory Camp on Thursday, Fr. Paul told me that the Archbishop wrote my letter of acceptance! I'm in the seminary for sure, for sure! I'm very pumped. If only I had more time to spread the word before I take off...