My beloved Chicago Cubs lost 17 to 1 to the St. Louis Cardinals last weekend, and I’m grateful I was there.
I hadn’t planned on going to the game. My wife, Stephanie, and I were primed to go to Madison, Wisconsin, for a long-needed parent getaway. But my sister Sarah and her husband Scott were visiting for the weekend, and between hosting them and an upcoming hip replacement, my mom understandably could not take on watching our son Abe for the weekend.
When I finally came to terms with not going on our trip, I checked the Cubs schedule to see if there were any games that weekend. Sarah and Scott love the Cubs, and I had been wanting to go to a game with the family anyway. It turned out the Cardinals were coming to town. Two rival teams in a pennant race on the Friday afternoon of Fourth of July weekend could not have been more perfect.
Abe and Stephanie were in. My brother Ari and his son Judah were in. For some reason, Sarah and Scott hesitated to pull the trigger on $150 upper-deck seats. But when they found out Dad was going, they were going.
An hour before the game, it stormed. But as the radar predicted, the heavens opened up at game time.
We got $10 hot dogs and ice cream sundaes in mini batting helmets. We sang “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” drowning out the singing Cardinal fans. And we watched the Cubs lose 17–1.
In the sixth inning, I shot a video asking my dad how things were going.
He said the game was going brilliantly because he got to enjoy a Cubs game with his family, and had a chance to yell and scream and boo.
I missed out on a weekend I had looked forward to for a year. But I got a day at the Cubs game I will be grateful for the rest of my life.
Question: When have your plans fallen apart, only for you to be grateful afterward?
