For The Love of Baseball…

We are a baseball family. I don’t really know how it happened because I didn’t grow up loving baseball or even watching many professional games. I played softball as a youngster, my dad coached the team for a few years, I pitched and we had a great time. But as high school rolled around and we moved to a new state I realized that many of my peers had surpassed me in skill level so, I turned in my glove put on some running shoes and joined the cross country team.

Mr. Wonderful loves baseball. The Seattle Mariners in particular. After we were married we took in several games up in Seattle at Safeco field and I was hooked. My father in law loves baseball as well and has been a die hard Boston Red Sox fan his whole life. He lives in Arizona and is a subscriber to the Red Sox organization online so he never misses a game. For their 40th wedding anniversary all us kids got together and sent them to Boston so that dad could finally see Fenway Park and The Big Green Monster with his very own eyes. Of course it rained the entire time they were there but that didn’t stop dad from soaking up every last bit of his life long dream. He took the paid tour of the stadium and when he got to The Big Green Monster he went up and touched it and cried. Dad never cries. This was 2003. In 2004 the Red Sox ended their 86 year World Series losing streak when they came back and won from behind to the Yankees. For dad to get to see his most loved team beat their greatest rival to end this losing streak, well it was quite a moment in the Olson family history.

Fast forward 11 years and here we are, smack dab in the middle of 10 year old little league. And we love it. We love the kids and the families and the bbq’s and the tournaments, all of it. Okay, there is drama too and every moment is not a dream moment but overall the whole experience has been a good one.

Today we are playing in a tournament in our home town. I specifically scheduled my 2nd mastectomy so that it fell before an in town tournament and would make things easier on Mr. Wonderful and all the people who are helping us out. Fortunately this time around has been much easier than the 1st go round and the pain level is way less as they didn’t have to remove any lymph nodes. The drains hanging off my side however are extremely attractive and I am ready to just yank them out. Fortunately I have only missed one game this weekend and I am gearing up to head out for another in an hour or so.

Is it a little nuts to be going to ballgames, semi drugged up with drains hanging off  your side? Well, probably but the truth is staying home and staring at the walls wondering what’s going on at the ballfield is way worse. The Olson family has gotten kicked around a bit more in the last several weeks and all I really want to do is be surrounded by my kids and friends and people that love me so that I can keep my mind off of everything else. Our friend Ryan joked the other day that, “You know things are rough when the upcoming mastectomy is like #4 or 5 on your list of major stressors.”

So today I am going to be thankful for the sunshine and that my son is playing ball that my parents are in town taking care of me that I get to go hang with some of my favorite people and cheer all those boys on. It’s little league, and it’s crazy and it’s filled with it’s own drama but I can just sit there on the sidelines and watch all the fireworks and be thankful for the fact that I feel well enough to be there watching it all take place.

Let’s Play Ball!!!

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