Ok - Maybe not so much "WE" and much as "The St. Louis Cardinals"!!!! The STLC WON THE WORLD SERIES 6-2!!! Yeaaaaaa!!!!! I am sooo very happy! Why, you ask? Well, let me tell ya!
Final score of 2011 World Series
Back in 1987, my Dad took me on a daddy-daughter trip to Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and St Louis. It was time to pick up his airplane from the manufacturer, who had just run its yearly diagnostics. It just so happened that the St Louis Cardinals, my Dad's favorite team of all-time, was playing in the World Series that year. He was giddy with excitement!! We had a wonderful trip, but by far the most memorable part was attending the game with Daddy. He was like a kid in the candy store! I kid you not!
We arrived and had no hotel reservations because all the hotels in the area were sold out. So we ended up staying at a hotel that was 3 cities away... and in the "Presidential Suite" nonetheless! (It was ALL they had available!) He had the concierge guy find him "scalper tickets," which he did. (I won't even tell you HOW MUCH he paid for those things!)
On game day we showed up about 1-1.5 hrs early. There were all sorts of vendors outside and Daddy just HAD to stop and shop for everyone in the family. Hats, T-shirts, Christmas ornaments, Collectible Spoons, Sweatshirts, Cups, you name it. Something for everybody. He was peeing his pants from all the excitement!
Once we bought all out stuff, we headed in to the game. For the price he paid, you'd expect to sit in the Presidential Box. But we were behind right field, waaaaay up on top - with only ONE row of people behind us and then the huge drop-off of the back of the stadium behind them. Yeah. We were in the nose-bleed section surrounded by a bunch of druggies who cared less about the game and more about 'partying.' No matter. Daddy ignored them and went on to have the time of his life.
I can't remember if is was game 4, 5, or 6, but the Cardinals lost to the Minnesota Twins that year. Daddy was sooo disappointed. But, while we were there he told me several things.
1.) He told me that while he played baseball, basketball, and football in high school, he loved baseball the most. He was so good in fact, that 5 teams were wanting to recruit him. I can only remember they included the Blue Jays, the White Sox, the Red Sox, and the Cubs. I can't remember the other team. But, before they could, he hurt his shoulder and couldn't play baseball any more. So he focused on his next love: basketball.
2.) He told me "You know when you're little, you sit at your desk and sometimes you just doodle? Well, since I was about 5 yrs old, the St Louis Cardinals were my favorite team and I'd sit for hours just doodling the "STL" on my paper, on my books, on anything I could get my hands on." And he "doodled" it on the napking right there in front of me. Effortlessly.
The "doodle" my Dad would draw
3.) He told me that all his life his one dream was to watch the Cardinals play in the World Series in their Home Stadium and WIN. (Sadly, that day, they didn't win.)
4.) He told me that even if he was dead, he'd ask Father in Heaven for "time off" to watch his favorite team from that great peep hole in the sky.
He told me many other things that night, all of which I keep in my heart and remember with fondness.
Well, a few days before the World Series began this year, our daughter, Jessica, who no longer lives at home, texted me that the Texas Rangers had done so good this year that they were playing in the World Series. This is the second time the Rangers have been in the World Series recently. While I'm not a HUGE sports fan like Daddy was, I can appreciate good games, good teams, and big events like the World Series. I thought to myself "Now that Nolan Ryan took over the Rangers, and they seem to have kicked their game into higher levels, maybe I can get excited about the Rangers and start supporting them when they play. So the next day I casually looked up when they were playing and who they were playing. To my utter shock they were playing The St Louis Cardinals in the World Series, beginning in BUSCH STADIUM!!!! AAAACCCCKKK!!!! WHAT????? No way can I support the Rangers. The Cardinals have been "my team" ever since that trip with Daddy! I was 100% behind the Cardinals.
So for games 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 I listened faithfull online to the game (thank you ESPN Sport Radio! as we don't have TV.) WIN. LOSE. WIN. LOSE. LOSE. Game 6 is up now...
on the very same freaking night as Emily's 10th Birthday Party! OH NO!!!! Well, nothing could be done about that. The Busch Stadium game for the previous night had been rained out, so they cancelled and rescheduled. Too bad for me.
So, we did Emily's party, came home with all the kids, finished the party and the minute the last child left the house, I got online to see who won. THE ST LOUIS CARDINALS!! IN THEIR HOME STADIUM!!! WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!! I cried, and cried, and then cried some more. I KNEW, absolutely, without a doubt, that Daddy had watched and it was then I felt him smiling down upon me and say "they won! Remember our time together?" and I cried again.
I was sooo very happy. Above all for my Daddy. Dreams DO come to pass. Even if we have to wait till we are in the next life. I was so very happy for the Cardinals too. And happy for me. But above all I was happy for the memory that Daddy created for me. The time he took to take me on that trip, just the two of us. The stories he shared, the "piloncitos" (little gifts) he bought me, the experiences we shared, the TIME SPENT TOGETHER. Walking up and down the "Rocky" steps in Philadelphia (remember that movie?)
The "Rocky Steps" at the entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Seeing the St Louis Arch "doorway to the west." I remember driving past the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia and mentioning to Daddy that I'd heard they have a weird handshake when they go in, and he said not to make fun of them, and that we LDS also have what some would consider a "weird handshake" in side our own Temple, but it's to be kept sacred. I remember seeing the Botanical Gardens, the Museum of Art, and Lemon Hill Mansion in Philadelpia,
Lemon Hill Mansion
the Anheuser Busch Brewery in St Louis, the Liberty Bell (I touched it!), Independence Hall,
Liberty Bell with Independence Hall in Background
the underground "mall" in downtown Philly, Grand Central Station where Daddy accidentally left his "cochito" under the Amtrak seat and had to RUN back to get it (his entire life was inside that "purse-like, zippered bag" where he kept all his important documents.) I remember the hotels we stayed in, the FANCY dinner we had on Moshulu on he Delaware River (the largest, 4-mast ship still afloat in the world), even though we were only in jeans. (ugh!)
Moshulu Ship/Restaurant (left: outside view, right: inside view)
I remember the Normal Rockwell museum in Philadelphia as well as walking by the very homes where the Founding Fathers actually stayed while they participated in the Constitutional Convention. I remember on the flight home, the weather got really, really bad. Daddy was NOT one to take chances. He was the most careful pilot that existed. So we ended up having to land in Dodge City, Kansas. I was excited! DODGE CITY! Wow - like a real western and everything. :) However, once we got to Dodge City, we looked at our calendar, and realized I need to get back sooner than we were able to get back to Lubbock. Namely because I HAD to fly out the next day in order to get back to El Paso in time for work the following day. So Daddy put me on a Greyhound bus, and I rode to Lubbock. My first (and LAST! might I add) bus trip. Soooo l-o-n-g!!!! Got to Lubbock, just had time to pack up and get to the airport and fly back to El Paso.
That was an inspiring, memorable trip. And to have relived all that this past week as the Cardinals WON (did I mention they WON the 2011 WORLD SERIES in the HOME STADIUM!?) the World Series, was just exhausting, exhilarating, emotional, joyous and a slew of other emotions.
(The old Busch Stadium, which was there in 1987, is on the right. The new Busch Stadium is being built on the left, and is partially on the footprint of the old stadium., is the one this year's World Series was played in..... and WON!)
And... to top off this emotional past 10-days: The 19th was my parent's 55th wedding anniversary, the 24th was Emily's 10th birthday, 25th of October was Daddy's 77th birthday, and the 27th of October (the night one of the most exciting games was played into overtime!) was the 18th anniversary of Mama and Daddy's death. Add PMS to all that, and you can see why the post that preceded this one was all about my being so emotional and taking it out on my sweet, dear husband who does NOT deserve that at all. (I'm sorry again, Bob!!!)
July 1987 - my parents and me
I'm still happy that the Rangers are such a better team than they have been in the past. And I must admit, the World Series Games were awesome, if not very strange too! Both the Rangers and the Cardinals played outstanding games. Daddy LOVED those kinds of games! You know, where the teams keep "one-upping" each other - first one team scores, then the next, then the next, the next .... and it goes into over time. EXCITING!
Thank you, Mama and Daddy, for so much more than I could ever say in mere words. And thank you, Daddy, for a trip that I will remember for all Eternity. I love you and miss you both so very much! But I look forward with great joy to reuniting with you forever one day! I'm so thankful that you are MY parents!
YEA CARDINALS!!!!!
