Opening day. All you have to do is say the words and you feel the shutters thrown wide, the room air out, the light pour in. In baseball, no other day is so pure with possibility. No scores yet, no losses, no blame or disappointment. No hangover, at least until the game's over.

A. She spent five years as a Tribune national correspondent based in Atlanta. from Pomona College.

About four times a year Schmich and fellow Tribune metro columnist Eric Zorn write a week of columns that consist of a back-and-forth exchange of letters. Born in Savannah Georgia the oldest of eight children Schmich grew up in Georgia attended high school in Phoenix Arizona and earned a B. In addition to writing her column Schmich was the author of the long-lived comic strip Brenda Starr from 1985 through its final appearance in January 2011 and has worked as a professional barrelhouse and ragtime piano player.