Wild Weekend in Memphis

We had a very exciting weekend in Memphis. Friday night we went to the Memphis Redbirds minor league baseball game and then Saturday night we went and saw a local theater companies production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.”

I have always wanted to catch a ball at a real baseball stadium. I wasn't going to be discriminatory and only accept a home run ball. I could live with a foul ball . Mid-way through the second inning, I decided to take Emme for a walk around the park. I have been interested in different parks and like to see where the best seats might be. Our seats were in Section 118, about two-thirds of the way down the left field line. Once Emme and I were on the opposite side of the stadium, I watched as a fly ball screamed down the line and hit somewhere in the vicinity of our seats. I wondered if I could have caught it. When I got back to my seat, Sabrina told me it hit a seat just one row in front of her and then four seats to her left. I sighed in frustration because that could have been the one.

We decided to leave the ball game mid way through the 7th inning. It was pretty apparent the Redbirds were going to win and I needed to get all the kids in bed. We had gone to the game with a bunch of people from our Pre-Field Orientation and had a good time visiting with them. For some reason, there was a group of singles that had taken a liking to the Redbirds left fielder, Shane Robinson. They were calling out his name all night. After I moved to a seat that was closer to the field, I joined in. Whenever he was taking warm up throws we would holler out, "Good catch Robinson" or "Nice throw Robinson." I am sure he was ignoring us.

The next morning I found out sometime after we left Robinson caught a ball near the foul line to end an inning and then flipped the ball to another child who had been sitting near us. Grrrrrr. :(

Saturday evening we caught a production of "Joseph." I never really enjoyed musicals when I was a youngster, thinking I was too cool for them. In college I saw a professional version of "Oklahoma." I really enjoyed it. I have since seen a professional version of "Les Miserables," a high school version of "Cats" and the latest DVD version of "The Phantom of the Opera." I had no preconceived notions about "Joseph" other than I knew the story line from the Bible.

I was very impressed with the quality of the production and also with the musical itself. I felt like this might be my new favorite musical. The songs were varied in their styles and there was a ton of humor. I would highly recommend you see it. (But maybe not the one with Donnie Osmond in it.) Emme was really excited to get a picture with the man playing Joseph!!

- Jeremy Erwin