It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I love the middle of February. I realize that for most of you stuck in the misery of cold, dark, snowy, slushy, grey North America-February out and out bites the big one. But for a handful of us diehard fanatics, the middle of February is the beginning of that most wonderful of seasons-baseball pitchers and catchers are reporting to camps in Florida and Arizona. I could easily wax poetic about the pastoral beauty of the game and this wondrous time of year when all teams are created equal in the sight of the Almighty, but for you heathens-like The Husband-it is lost somewhere in the glassy stares when new Apple technology is announced and the joy you feel when you discover a new offering at the LCBO.

It has been many years since I have attended Spring Training. My dad took us to Clearwater to watch the Phillies way back in the time before the establishment of my beloved Blue Jays. I have always wanted to make the spring pilgrimage to Dunedin, but this year it is first time when I actually have the time and the true excitement to go. I will be in the land of my people (Miami) just as my boys of summer kick off the year and I was hoping to make the short four and half hour trek up the Gulf Coast for a couple of days to watch, witness, and maybe befriend Travis Snider. I have a mother thing going on for the boy! The Husband is instead being his old stubborn curmudgeonly self and is steadfastly refusing his wife this small but necessary life's pleasure. So I have come up with a list with which he can replace a two trip to baseball nirvana.

• A dog! Almost any dog will do, provided that it is not a chihuahua! Rescue dog, mutt, pure bred. I have love in my heart for most canines. We can start looking Friday morning when I return to TO.
• That trip to Australia that I have been dreaming about for lo these many years. And I don't mean "soon dear". I mean "this year dear!" Seems to me two days in Dunedin is way more manageable than four weeks down under.
• We could travel to the Bonnaroo Arts Festival in Tennessee where we can spend a long weekend camping under the stars, using public facilities, and picnicking with hundreds of thousands of our closest friends. Think Woodstock for the new millennium! Fun fun! I know how much you love crowds and camping out of doors. Hey! Our friend's kids will be there. We can hang with them!
• How about Comic-Con 2012? You could mingle with the trekkies and the "Sheldon clones" like yourself. We could learn to speak Klingon and watch all of the new movie trailers for those superhero movies you love so much. Maybe even arrange a shitach for Older Son?
• We could spend a wonderfully romantic weekend watching all of the Harry Potter movies, all of the Star Trek movies, all of the Marvel movies, and every Ahhnold movie back to back to back to........

Honestly, Husband. Aren't two days in Dunedin easier than all of that?