"Nervous Stomachs Abound..."

When, twenty-six years ago at the age of 34 I first arrived in St. Petersburg,the median age for the city's populace was somewhere in the range of the high 50's, the city then being in the early stages of slowly shaking off its long held reputation as being primarily a preferred retirement destination for transplanted northerners. So many retirees had opted to escape the frigid climes in the post World War II years the city garnered the euphemistic,but not entirely misdiagnosed reputation as being "God's Waiting Room," given evident credence by the dozens of green benches that lined the full length of Central Avenue and occupied daily by droves of senior citizens enjoying the warm Florida sunshine. So enamored was St. Petersburg with its reputation as being the "Sunshine City" that the afternoon newspaper, The Evening Independent boasted, with its "Sunshine Offer," that the paper would be "free" to everyone - "subscribers and strangers alike" - each and every day that the sun "did not shine on St. Petersburg." In the paper's 76 year existence, that offer was made good only 296 times.

The sunshine is still amply prevalent in St. Petersburg, but the green benches, like The Evening Independent, have long since disappeared into the nostalgic history of the city. St. Petersburg has transformed itself into a vibrant, enterprising community, embracing a modern metropolitan flair without sacrificing it's quaint, by-the-bay, old Florida feel. And just 34 short blocks due south from our Magnolia Heights residence looms the imposing fabric dome of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays professional baseball team...a team that heretofore couldn't figure out how to get out of its own way, and now finds itself in the midst of competing for the American League championship. To say that the residence of this city are in absolute awe and dismay over this truly unexpected turn of fortunes is an understatement that is only more profoundly echoed by baseball aficionados throughout the country! Having beaten the venerable Boston Red Sox last evening 9 to 1 in hallowed Fenway Park, The Rays need only two more wins to advance to the World Series!

I realize, like every astute baseball fan, that two wins when four is needed does not make a series. However what looms just on the horizon is almost too impossible to even allow oneself to imagine. Just to possibly advance to the World Series still invokes disbelief in yours truly. The economic impact alone would be staggering! And what if we actually won the World Series? The jubilant effects upon this town of just under 250,000 would be indescribable. "St. Petersburg, Flordia...Home Of The World Champion Rays!" I don't think the city could fabricate a baseball cap large enough to encompass the pride we would rightfully generate. Talk about your dancing in the streets!! St. Petersburg...The Sunshine City. The Florida sunshine has never felt warmer or more enjoyable than it does today. Go Rays!!

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Post Script: Judi and I are leaving Thursday for an extended trip north, returning some time the first week of November. Since I am now physically strong enough to travel, and since my prospects for re-employment are dim at best in the foreseeable future, we have decided now is the best time to mooch off friends and relatives from here to Columbus, Ohio. My dear mother in North Caroina is already making extensive plans to lay in a resupply of her favorite staples: bread, eggs and cantaloupe. Yum! Judi will be attending a training seminar in Atlanta this weekend and I otherwise would have been left to my own devices to entertain myself all day long in her absence. But no more. I contacted my blogging buddy "Coffeypot," and I am to spend a day in his company as he provides me with a guided tour to numerous Civil War historical sites. I think it is so cool that this hobby of blogging has allowed me to make new friends and now an opportunity to transform a verbal friendship into a flesh and blood acquaintance. Judi will be taking her laptop and hopefully I can find the time and wireless locations to post a few blog entries while traveling the highways and byways of America...in search yet another tankful of the cheapest gas. Wish us luck...