FROM A JACK TO A KING

Was Kermit ever that happy? Is this frog also dreaming of Miss Piggy?  Has he had a fabulous meal of flies and crickets sauteed on a lily pad leaf?  Or maybe he's just enjoying the splendor of creation.

It's  really funny how mood swings affect us.  This morning I opened up a new pack of coffee.  Ever since Will Lee and I made coffee for the Teachers' Lounge crew (later Chuck Stallings and I carried on the traditional task) I've loved opening coffee.  In the old days it was in a can and as the can opener gave out its last chew before getting put to bed, the aroma of fresh coffee filled theair like a shot of perfume.  But times change and coffee comes in a package now.

This morning in my early time lumber from slumber I opened up the wrong end of the coffee package.  I wondered where the plastic tabs were, but not much stays the same (certainly not the plastic lids on bottled water anyhow) so I pulled and freed the glued paper to allow me to extract coffee.  Then as I was putting back into the refrigerator for fresh keeping, I noticed my faux pau.  The day continued along those lines with the one except ionthat I played the last 8 holes today near par.

Things were going well yesterday.  Until the bottom of the 7th inning when Cardinal Lance Berkman had one of the worst at bats of the season.  With a new relief pitcher into the game and his wildness showing, Number 15 swung at a 2-0 ball way out of the strike zone. With the bases loaded and one out. Fundamentals taught by coaches to baseball players from age 8 on, tell the hitter to make the pitcher throw a strike in the area where the hitter wants to smear the ball.  Don't go after a pitch that doesn't look good.  In his eagerness, he committed a cardinal sin.  The Cardinals go on to lose.  My mood does a 180 gravitation.  All because of one play in a baseball game.

The night before as the Cardinals rallied to win, I was as happy as the frog.  As I've said before, my eighth grade English teacher, Mrs. Snodsmith told me it didn't take much for me to be entertained.  She was right then and now.

But she should have added or for me to have a sudden mood swing.