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Health & Fitness

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

"I think I could get used to this." 

Josie had suddenly found herself as an only child for the evening. 

It was her birthday weekend. With one sister at a sleepover and the other one hanging out with her baby brother and Grammie, Josie was super excited to have special "date night" with Mommy AND Daddy. This was something that, according to her, had "never ever happened for as long as I have even lived." 

A friend gave us some tickets to the local AAA hometown baseball game, so on Friday evening we packed up our hats and blankets and we took Josie out to the ballgame.

I loved seeing the look on her little face - freckled cheeks flushed with the heat of the July evening (and with excitement.) The still-closed gates loomed right in front of us. She hopped from one foot to the other and waved the tickets back and forth in front of her sweaty head to "get a little bit of breeze."

"Is it time yet? Is it? Daddy, is it time?" 

Finally, the gates opened and we swarmed in. The man taking tickets noticed that Josie was carrying all of ours. He laughed, "You have everyone's tickets? You must be pretty important!"

She felt pretty important, too, as she got to hold my hand AND her dad's at the same time - without competing with a sibling. 

We found our seats - just behind home-plate - and Josie stood with her hand over her little heart for the national anthem and for "God Bless America." 

She got nachos and cheese and chili and a cherry slushy and a giant pretzel and a funnel cake and pretty much whatever else she wanted. She got an all-you-can-play wristband for the inflatables in the kids' area and she got a free bobble-head. She got to participate in the Fun Run and she chased the mascot all the way across the infield. She watched the scouts clocking the pitches and writing down statistics and her dad gave her a crash course on the rules and regulations of baseball. 

She watched the crowd. She watched the players. She watched the promotional games. She watched the hits, the foul balls, the outs, the home runs. She cheered for each run and joined in on the victory dances. 

We stayed until the (triumphant) end. "WOOHOO!" she yelled with the crowd when our team made the final winning run. 

Lots of the crowd thinned out and headed for their cars, but we waited. And waited.

Finally, one by one, the stadium lights went out. "3...2...1..." we counted down and suddenly, there they were! The victory fireworks, lighting up the summer night sky. 

Josie sat between us, staring up at the sparkling, swirling, diamond-like explosions in the dark. A look of happiness that you only see on the face of a just-turned-8-year-old was on her little face. 

Sometimes some baseball, some fireworks and a night out alone with Mommy and Daddy add up to a perfect birthday win. 

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