Our anniversary was last weekend. Every fifth year at this time in the past we’ve taken a trip to discover a new city. We’ve been to San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, and Seattle. In each place we spend most of our time walking around the central city. It’s been a wonderful tradition. On the not-five-year anniversaries we go for something simple and local. It could be dinner out or a play or just a trip to the local botanical garden (a real St. Louis jewel).
This is an off year and because of Gail’s swallow problems caused by Ataxia, dinners out are not really a great idea for a celebration. When I was thinking about how in the world to celebrate she asked, “When are we going to the ballgame again?” You see we went to a game this spring when my sister, Gail, and her husband, Jim, came to visit and had a great time. When we were in the later innings and the Cards were behind, I asked if we could leave before the end to beat the traffic. She said, “No.” This was a bit of a shock even though she's been a baseball fan ever since her Dad would take her to see the Braves games from the bleachers in Atlanta. All three of us enjoyed the intensity of her response and apparent interest at the time!
When she expressed an interest in going to another game just when I was worrying about our celebration, it was a real gift. I quickly asked if we could do that for our anniversary this year, already knowing the answer. So, Wednesday before our anniversary came we went to see the Cards and Padres play. The weather was incredible for August, 80-degrees, and we had great seats in a handicapped area on the second tier. The teams were well matched and even though there were lots of hits the scoring was relatively low. A number of double plays and a diving catch left runners on base, so at the bottom of the ninth the cards were behind–as they had been for the entire game–with 3 runs versus the Padres 4.
I’d already asked her earlier if we could leave early to beat the traffic. I wasn’t surprised when I asked again that she quickly said, “No.” Now we’re at the end of the 9th with two outs and the batter, Masyn Winn, coming up has a .171 batting average. Again, I asked if we could get a little bit of a jump on the traffic. Again, “No.” Then the seemingly impossible happened. Winn hit what should have been a really good single just beyond the infield and managed to make it to second base. Even so, it was two outs and the bottom of the ninth. Tommy Edman, the Cards designated hitter with a .300 batting average was coming up, but still… When the count got to 2 strikes and 1 ball I knew we should have left early, but the day was beautiful and if it took us an extra 30 minutes to get home, who was going to care. So we stayed for what turned out to be the last pitch of the game. Edman homered to right field! The crowd went wild, but more importantly, Gail was cheering like the summer days with her Dad. Damn, what a great anniversary!
Thanks for sharing your special love story! Happy Anniversary you two!
Such a beautiful day with your beautiful wife. So rich with love and pure joy! So glad you shared the story. It’s worth saving and enjoying.