A Retiree's Dilemma

Life is created from interesting choices.

Today I had a tough one, and until the moment came for me to leave, I didn't know what I was going to do.

A retiree's life is full of tough choices. Today, I had tickets to two events: an all-Mozart program by the San Francisco Symphony at 2 pm today (Thursday), or a day game at the Oakland Coliseum. I had only one ticket for each: I was going by myself. I never have a problem doing that.

I added up the points. The A's played the Cleveland Indians for the first time last night. It was a close 4-3 game, Indians, in the 3rd inning last night when I had to leave the Crogan's T.V. set to sit down and have dinner with Aaron and Molly. We talked baseball much of the night, so that was okay. I was DVR'ing the game, so I sat down with a half glass of wine to watch the rest when I got home at 11 pm, only to find that the Indians blew the A's out of the water for the rest of the game, scoring 9 runs in one of the later innings.

So, did I really want to watch the hit-happy Indians whomp up on the A's one more time? No, not really. And the weather report said it'll be overcast in the morning, just like yesterday. Yet, I looked out this morning, and saw a glimpse of sun...

The symphony looked good. I am reading a biography of Mozart these days, and since this is the 250th anniversary of Wolfie's birthday, the San Francisco Symphony has had notable Mozart-themed productions throughout 2006, and this was going to be a stellar one.

But I had another symphony performance on Sunday afternoon. I could afford to miss this one.

Whoops, that argument won't work, as I have another A's game on the weekend, too, this time on Saturday. It's Nick Swisher bobblehead day. Gotta grab a quick Torah study and get out to the Coliseum to collect my goateed bobblehead.

So, which one? Which one would you attend?

I didn't know what I was going to do until I was getting dressed this morning. I found myself slipping into my blue jeans, denim, NOT symphony clothes but definitely baseball gear. Okay, it's baseball. I looked around in wonderment. Yeah, this feels right.

As I headed into the stadium, I called on my cell phone to the symphony box office and donated back my ticket. That way, I get a tax deduction and the symphony gets to fill the seat.

As I settled into my seat in the perfect Section 126 on an overcast but pleasant day in Oakland, I saw first pitch. Kirk Saarloos, starting for injured Rich Harden, had a shaky beginning, but closed out the top of the 1st without a score from the Tribe. By the end of the bottom of the first, the A's led, 5 to nothing. Wow.

It was a great day for A's hitters and pitchers, with some creative defense thrown in by Bobby Crosby and error-free Mark Ellis. The final score was 14 - 3, Oakland Athletics. I had definitely made the right choice.

Sometimes the choices in life are tough, especially if you have two great possibilities in your day. May we all have those wonderful options in our lives, every day.