Tale of Two Cities

3+ weeks have gone by since I finished up my second year at Princeton Theological Seminary. I have had a refreshing time with family and friends. I feel completely "detoxed" from the year and I can see how much God taught me this year through my classes and my relationships. A lot has happened this year.

Two weekends ago, I had the opportunity to go on a road trip with two friends (with the same name = Corey). I mistakenly thought that trips like this one were not possible after having 2 kids... We went to church at Presbyterian Church at New Providence on Sunday morning and then headed into NY City. Little Italy, China Town, a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and then a subway trip led us to Shea Stadium for the Mets/Yankees game. It was freezing but the game and the crowd kept everything heated up. I love New York. I was born 20 miles from the city and its rhythms are built into my being. The intensity of the crowd was everything that I had anticipated. I would never bring my 3 year old daughter to a game like this one due to the profanity and constant fights but I took in the craziness with a smile. The Mets won and that made it even better...

We left from the Shea around 11:30 and drove up to a state park in Sturbridge, MA and had our tent set up by 4 AM... Around 10:30 AM, we woke up and found our way into a freezing cold lake to wake up. A grease-filled Cracker Barrel breakfast and drive led us to Boston where we hit up 2-3 pubs before the Red Sox/Yankees game. We arrived at Fenway early and stood near the Green Monster seats (hence the picture). As we talked, I heard someone yell "Heads up!" and then a baseball came flying by my head. I fought off another fan for the ball and took into possession my second official American League baseball. Fenway Park was incredible but the fans were a major disappointment. This was supposed to be the "most hate-filled rivalry in baseball" but I couldn't tell that from the slight chatter that marked the crowd volume all game long. The number of standing ovations at the Mets/Yankees game had to be near 50. The Yankees/Red Sox game featured 1. The boos for Jonny Damon lasted a mere 2 seconds and nobody seemed to care when Curt Schilling had 2 stikes on a batter. It will take a lot for someone to convince me that Red Sox fans are passionate after what I witnessed that night...

We returned to the camp site by 1 AM and talked over a cigar until 3 or 4 in the morning, woke up at 6 AM and drove south back to Jersey. I was exhausted but it was the perfect kind of exhaustion - one that was caused by a series of memories that only God can provide with close friends.