Sweet Caroline at Fenway Park Archives - The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally

Last night, I sat in some excellent seats at Boston’s Fenway Park for the last time.

Here are the seats.

The first time I sat in those excellent seats was in the 1970s, when I bought a share of season tickets along with several of my co-workers at Management Decision Systems. The last time Management Decision Systems operated as a company was in the 1980s, but that season-ticket-sharing among former employees has lasted through the years.

Every year, through the 1980s and until 1998, I would sit in those seats for six regular season games. I also lasted, in those seats, through many Red Sox playoff games. When I was blessed with a son (for the first and last time) in 1998, I passed my share of those excellent seats to my Red Sox-fan sister, Ellen. Ellen, since the last time I was the owner of that share of those seats, has invited me to at least one game per season.

When I transferred my share of those excellent seats to Ellen, my last request was that we do our best to make it to a World Series Game. The last time Ellen and I succeeded in that was in 2013 (which I thought would be my first and last year of blogging). The first (and only other time) Ellen and I made it to a World Series Game was in 2007. This is not the last time I’ll think about those games. Believe me, memories I have from many games — when I and others were in those excellent seats — are going to last.

Here‘s a Wikipedia page about the ups and downs of the currently-last-place Red Sox. The last time I read that was a few minutes ago.

I think the last time I sat in those seats (before last night) was when Ellen and I were at our last Red Sox World Series Game (described in this blog post and this one, too). Here, perhaps, is the last blog post (before today’s) where those seats have appeared (when our image lasted on national TV, no less).

Here’s the last time I’ll explain this at WordPress: Last night was the last time I’ll sit in those seats because Ellen has decided it’s the last time she wants to buy them. The last time we discussed that, Ellen asked if I wanted my share of those seats back, and my last thought was “no.” This might not be the last reason, but those seats cost a fortune. Indeed, between the first time I sat in them and the last time we sat in them, last night, the price of those seats has quadrupled.

It’s not the last time Ellen or I will go to a Red Sox Game, though. Last night, we talked about lots of ways to attend games in the future.

Today is probably the last time I’ll post these photos from last night, when I was rushing from a therapy group to meet my sister, her spouse Linda, and our cousin Lani, for the 7:10 PM game.