The world gets smaller, a little crazier and a lot more interesting every day.
For instance, yesterday I had lunch with a woman I only know through our respective writing. Carolotta Schmittgen lives in North Carolina and writes a great blog called Lotta Sports.
(If you just left this blog to check out hers, I understand and I won’t plan on seeing you for a while. Caroltta’s blog is more than a decade deep and full of great stories.)
One day a couple of years ago, Carlotta commented on a post I wrote, so I checked out her blog and yada yada yada, we became virtual friends.
A lifelong sports fan whose mother played collegiate basketball player, Carlotta doesn’t just write about all the sports she loves, she immerses herself in them. Shortly after she and her husband Rick moved from Texas to their retirement home in North Carolina, Carlotta popped over to Five County Stadium with her resume in hand. She left with a job in guest relations with the Carolina Mudcats.
In addition to that gig, she hosts podcasts, writes sports columns and blogs regularly, all while enjoying her retirement from Delta Airlines, where she spent 30 years as a flight attendent and field service manager.
Yesterday she flew into Appleton to surprise former Mudcat pitcher Michele Vassalotti at a Timber Rattlers banquet. She messaged me to see if I wanted to meet for lunch.
I agreed because, why not? Life is short and spring in Wisconsin can be a little boring.
Carlotta turned out to be a delight (though she was disappointed I had not brought my mom, a woman Carlotta also only knows through my blog. I get it. Who wouldn’t want to meet an 84-year old dynamo who thinks pickle ball is for old people and has very strong opinions about the current Packer quarterback situation?)
Because the Mudcats are a Single A Brewers affiliate and Carlotta is a loyal fan, she expects to be back in Appleton for a game or two this season. I told her I look forward to seeing her again.
“Maybe next time you can bring your mom,” she said.
Will do, Carlotta.
After our lunch, Carlotta sent me this picture of her elbow because it turns out, in addition to a love a sports, we have elbows that look like Kerplunk games in common. I shattered mine almost 20 years ago when I rode a lose ladder down from our garage attic, and she shattered hers when her pet dog, a Boxer, spooked and took off.
She also broke her chin and her shoulder in the fall and spent three months in a nursing home recovering.
A GREAT read!! I really enjoyed the lunch with you and look forward to this summer when we return for several days of Wisconsin TR baseball! I was very impressed with the renovations at the ballpark. It is an exciting time for baseball fans in Appleton! Hopefully you can get to some games and see Michele (mee-kay-lay) #31 in relief action. Be sure to shout to him, “I’m a friend of Lotta’s!”