TEAM POSADA: FRIENDS IN MY HEAD

I was in Miami with my wife.  We were eating breakfast at the News Café, a place that we usually eat at when we visit the area.  This was a special visit, we were away from the kids for a few days, soaking in the Florida rays and enjoying ourselves.  We don’t get to do that much. 

As we were walking past the St Moritz, Laura Posada, running from the opposite direction with her iPod on, saw us, and stopped. What a surprise! We chatted for a few minutes. It was like old times! With that, we made our way back with Laura to the Posada home to hang out.  It was great to see Jorge again, it had been a while!

We chatted at the house for a bit.  Jorge showed me all of the great stuff he collected over the years and reminded me of some of those good locker room stories. When I asked him about the Core Four, that was sacred though.  I couldn’t get him to bend. “I respect that,” I told him.  He smiled and walked over to the bar, dropped a few cubes into a couple tumblers and we toasted to health over a few Black Labels on the rocks.  We sat by the pool in the bright sun telling each other war stories like men do. While I didn’t have many, he seemed interested.  We talked a lot about the kids, the Posada foundation and his retirement.  

“I’ll be back one day,” he said, “I’m a ballplayer. Being home with Laura and the kids is amazing, but it’s what I do. Maybe I come back as a coach.”  

“No... a Manager,” I stepped in, “Lead them!”  At this point it was like the Godfather.  I was leaned in like Michael talking to Roth in the den with the television on alittle louder than normal so no one knew what we were talking about. 

There was a pause...then Jorge spoke, sipping his drink shortly after... “Who knows." He shrugged his shoulders.  The dude was clearly modest at that point, so I let the conversation die. After all,  I said my piece and he knew I was right, but this is Jorge Posada so while the conversation ended… his mind was still going, grinding it out emotionally. He's a Leo, like me. I could read his mind 100 miles away.

Laura and my wife came out to the patio and were laughing and having a blast. Apparently Laura took her out for alittle Miami shopping and day on the town. I didn’t want to know what she bought, I didn’t care. We both knew we were having a great time with old friends.  It was great to catch up.  Laura told me that the next time we needed to bring the kids down and theirs and ours could use the jet skies.  Jokingly, we said told her that’s why we're in Miami in the first place... to get away from them! We laughed it off and just enjoyed the sunset now. It was breezy now, so it erased some of the humidity at that point.

We chatted alittle about Bleeding Yankee Blue.  While they didn’t read it all the time, the Posadas understood the message and liked it.  I told them I was sincere in my thoughts and they appreciated the writers and the pieces we put up on a daily basis.  It was a nice compliment.  Then Jorge leaned in, “You should work for the Yankees. They could use a guy like you.”

“Really? How so?",  I asked, not to get too far ahead of myself... “The passion. You have the passion. Somewhere recently, they lost some of that passion in the organization.”  I sat there stunned.  Then I thought about it.  Maybe Jorge was right. I mean, I was just a fan with a message, but maybe they needed some passion again. After all, Jorge left and it almost seemed like the passion went with it.  “I’ll make a phone call,” Jorge said. He smiled. He gave me the knuckles and there was a twinkle in his eye.  He was happy, you could tell.  

"And we appreciate all the kind words over the past few years about us, Casey.” Laura said.

“Hey, we take care of who we believe in,” I said, “That’s why we feature you guys a lot."  Laura smiled, “We won’t forget it.”  Then Jorge put his hand on my shoulder… “You play pool? I bet I could kick your ass, I’ve been practicing with my son"

I smiled... “Bring it bro!”

1010 Wins suddenly blasted in my ear.  I opened my eyes. It was a dream.  For the first time in a very long while, I had a dream where every detail was vivid.  I wanted to go back to sleep.  What a nice visit with some truly great friends in my head.

Oh well… maybe we'll visit them again tonight…

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