The Sweetest Thing

I won’t lie – I am not a big basketball fan and neither is anyone else in our house. Still, with greater Boston celebrating another championship from a local sports, you can’t help but get caught up in the excitement. Last night, the Boston Celtics crushed the Los Angeles Lakers, 131-92, to win the team’s 17th NBA championship, the most in league history (the Lakers are second with 14). Paul Pierce won the championship MVP as he, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen, with a collective 35 All-Star appearances, each won his first NBA title. What is probably more amazing is that the team went from having the second-worst record last season and, with some bad bounces by the ping-pong balls, losing out on the top two picks in last year’s draft to NBA glory, the biggest single-season turn-around in league history.

So that makes two championships (counting the Red Sox 2007 World Series title) and two missed opportunities for championships (Patriots and Revolution) in the past eight months. Do you think we are getting our fill around here?

At home, Jakob has made leaps and bounds in his development. Everyone – his teachers, his therapists, and his doctors as well as his parents – is impressed with how far he has come in the past year. Best of all, he’s off to kindergarten this fall! Lea will be starting school then, too, and we’re pretty sure that she will have no trouble making the transition.

For us, after making improvements inside, our focus is now shifting to outside the house. Last summer, I tore down the old shed behind our garage and had a new one installed in late April. No longer will I have to keep my truck parked outside and store my lawn mower, snow blower, and other items in its garage bay. Right now, I’m in the midst of a deck project in the backyard that’s near completion. It’s an island deck, meaning that it sits less than a foot off the ground and isn’t tied to the house. We’ve had every intention of building one for the past few years but I finally took the initiative recently after my mother passed along some simple plans that she found in a woodworking magazine. I even added some built-in bench seats and it should be a great place for an outdoor dinner or just to relax. After this, we will be turning to the gardens as Tiffany wants to spruce up some neglected beds and bring a little more color to the yard – green grass is nice, but…

One final note: Tiffany and I will celebrate ten years of marriage on 27 June. Hooray for us! Take care, everyone.