Out of the recliner

I’m a homebody at heart. I’m perfectly content to relax in my recliner with a ballgame or movie on TV whenever I get the chance.

My bride, Lisa, on the other hand, likes to go, go, go. So, over the next few weeks, we’ll be going, going, going. Sometime Friday, we’ll head off to Florida for the second time this year, hoping the weather is a little better than it was for our spring break trip. We’ll spend a week in Panama City Beach with Lisa’s daughter and her boyfriend, hopefully enjoying the sun and sand and a bit of a break from work, although I’ll have my laptop with me and will be doing my part to make sure our newsroom staff meets a new earlier deadline necessitated by a change in printers.

We’ll head home on June 18 and probably spend that night with my son and his family in North Little Rock. I’ll have a late night covering the Republican primary runoff on Tuesday, June 21. Then we’ll turn around and drive to Memphis on June 23 for the annual Arkansas Press Association convention. This year’s event has a new twist, being held in conjunction with the Tennessee and Mississippi associations. The convention is always a fun time, capped by an awards luncheon on Saturday. I look forward to the awards being presented each year. I’ll admit that I’m hyper-competitive and I want our newspaper to be the best in the state. We’ve won the coveted general excellence award four times in the past five years. I’m still upset about the one we didn’t win but I’m borrowing the motto of the 1981 Pittsburgh Steelers: “One for the Thumb.” That was a reference to the Steelers’ pursuit of a fifth Super Bowl title with a core of veteran players who were getting past their prime. The Steelers, of course, fell short of their goal but I’m hoping we can avoid following suit.

We’ll get home from Memphis on Sunday, June 26. Three days later, we’re headed to a concert in Tulsa. Then we’re Chicago-bound to watch my beloved Chicago Cubs host the Boston Red Sox on July 2 at Wrigley Field. The Cubs are just awful this year, but that doesn’t matter. This will be my third visit to Wrigley Field and I won’t take it for granted. Getting a chance to see the Red Sox — another of MLB’s most iconic franchises — is just a bonus.

We’ll be home in time to watch the annual Berryville fireworks from our back deck on July 4, then it’s back to Tulsa for another concert on July 7.

I’d like to think we’ll have some time to rest in July, but there’s so much to see and do. Lisa and I both love to fish — although she somehow manages to catch more fish than I do every single time — so I’m sure we’ll spend some time at Roaring River the next chance we get. And of course, we can’t go too long without seeing our grandsons. And if the weather is nice, you can’t beat a night at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.

It’s going to be an exhausting few weeks, but I’m looking forward to it and I appreciate Lisa for getting me out of the house. After all, life isn’t meant to be lived in a recliner.