Mike's Mets

I want to apologize for another long absence from this blog. I know I indicated in November that I expected to be posting again soon.

At that point I had managed to obtain a placement for my mom in a nursing home nearby and assumed that after three years of dealing with all sorts of matters related to her health and finances that thing would get a lot easier. Unfortunately, Mom managed to toss me one more curveball when she was sent to the hospital and diagnosed with virtually untreatable cancer.

She was placed under hospice care, given drugs to make her as comfortable as possible and wasn't expected to live much longer at all. I tried to spend some time with her every day and figured I'd get back to my plans to write again after she passed.

December turned to January, then February and now March. Mom doesn't really know who I am anymore, doesn't even talk all that much, and mostly my visits involve me reading a book or listening to a baseball podcast on my mp3 player while she sleeps fitfully.

Still, Mom is as stubborn as always and, having already lasted twice as long as was expected, is showing no inclination to leave this world on any other timetable than her own. Since Mets baseball was one of the few things we truly had in common in an otherwise difficult relationship I figured Mom wouldn't mind if I got back to writing on the subject again.

I fully intend to post regularly again this year. Other than issues with my Mom, the other big impediment to regular blogging has been a rather murky and tenuous employment situation. Let's just say that it's no fun to be 50-something and job hunting in this economy.

I was able to find enough things to do to keep my head above water, if just barely, but there wasn't much free time and when there was I wasn't always in the mood to write about baseball. In the past couple of months a decent opportunity has come up and (knock wood) I might be out of the woods finally.

I have no illusions that this will be a great season to be a Mets fan, but I think it will be a fun season to write about them. I'm really looking forward to it.

I'll be posting some articles about various issues this week -- some Mets stuff, some general baseball. If you subscribe to this site's feed you will be notified of new postings. I have also started a twitter account, mostly to follow others but will also post links to new content there. You'll find me @MikeSteffanos.

I'm working on my first baseball post right now and will have it up later today.