It’s his parents’ fault. When he was a baby, the kid was inoculated as a Dodgers superfan, even before his MMR shots, by way of a Dodgers onesie. I helped the same boy, now a teenager, finally paint the bedroom he’d moved into 18 months ago.
Across the country. Away from friends. Against his will.
We stood in front of a wall of paint chips, looking at hues that brought to mind the Marlins and the Brewers. We landed on a shade that most closely reminded us of hot dogs and soft-serve ice cream on a summer day, mixed with the crack of a bat, followed by a 17-mile walk to find our car. We called it Dodger Blue.
The MLB is really missing a cross-promotional opportunity here.
Painting a window frame a bold color is simple:
Place painter’s tape along the border.
Paint the frame blue.
Make sure you don’t remove tape too early or… whoops! Yep. Little blobs of blue spill out. Bad idea.
This shouldn’t be too hard to fix. Just paint over the blobs to cover them UH OHHH! What made you think you could freehand this part? No, no, no, you were supposed to tape over the blue part.
Siggggghhhhh.
Oh, you’re gonna cry? Did you have something better to do this weekend?
Plan B: Find curtains.
The blue-bound windows and door really pick up on the Dodgers memorabilia scattered around the room - bobbleheads, plastic helmets, and a garbage can that my son claims is a popcorn bucket. Probably all scored at games as fan giveaways.
Randy Newman’s iconic song would accompany a win as everyone filed out of the stands:
Rollin' down the Imperial Highway
With a big nasty redhead at my side
Santa Ana winds blowing hot from the north
And we was born to ride
I hope seeing that familiar blue when my kid wakes up in the morning says to him, “I love L.A.” and “L.A. loves you back.”
I can’t rewrite history, but I can help him better see his future, whatever he wants it to be. Maybe a UCLA acceptance letter. Maybe clocking in for work every day in a locker room in the Chavez Ravine. Or, more urgently, heading back for a long weekend to roam the mean streets of Playa Vista with the buddies he’s had since kindergarten.
The heartache is real, for both of us. The kid was born to ride.
Oh, and the real name of the paint color? I checked the can in the hallway as I was writing this up.
Home Depot. Behr. “Bluebloods.”
The Country Bunny
Can we talk about The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes?
I’m not about to spoil this gem of a book for you, written in 1939, but it’s an ahead-of-its-time tale about the plight of over-burdened mothers and the invisible load, all wrapped up in a delightful children’s Easter story. Highly recommend!
More Bunnies
You can order clothes for your rabbit.
Happy Easter, and until next time, friends!
The Boy Bleeds Blue