Today I'm going to tell you a little story and it goes a little something like this.
Flashback to a half-empty movie theater, I was probably five or six years old. My father was given the chore of keeping my sister, (who is two years older than me) and I, busy for a couple hours while my mother hosted a business open house. My father had the wonderful idea of taking us to the movie theater, only one problem, he took us to see a movie called The Rookie. A baseball movie?! Come on, dad! Who likes baseball? I would like to tell you that this is the time that I feel in love with the sport of baseball but in reality, this story ended with me getting us kicked out of the theater.
Now, fast forward to when I was in the fifth grade. My mother was out of town for an annual conference and my dad thought it would be great to bring my sister and me to a festival called Twinsfest that celebrates the Minnesota Twins every year. We spent a Friday night at the old Metrodome meeting current, former and future Twins stars. I thought, okay, maybe this sport isn't so bad?
This became a tradition for my father and I. Every year, we spent the last weekend in January, arguably the coldest weekend, going to Twinsfest and being surrounded by baseball players and fans alike, who loved the game. I was really starting to develop a liking for this baseball thing.
In 2010, when the beautiful new Target Field opened, I was considered a die-hard baseball fan. You could ask me anything about any team and I was able to tell you the teams record, the score of their game the night before and who was leading the team in home runs. I remember my first experience at Target Field. Walking into the newest baseball stadium in the MLB with wide eyes and I was probably linked to my father's arm because I tend to get lost. There has not been a season that we haven't made it to at least one game. I never miss an opportunity to find cheap tickets to a game.
I recently went to my first Twins game without my father and it was a weird experience. We communicate without words a lot of the time at the game, just with a smile of excitement when the Twins get a hit or a high five when someone hits a home run. I know that I will be a Twins fan for life and I have my father to thank. He taught me almost everything I know about the Twins. I will never forget going through old baseball cards, programs, magazines and other Twins memorabilia or hearing stories about the baseball games that my dad attended when he was little. Hearing stories about how he watched the great Kirby Puckett or Harmon Killebrew play on TV, or attending Spring Training in Florida with you, and I certainly won't forget the numerous nights we spent watching the Twins in our living room.
I'm thankful that for the rest of my life I will have baseball to remind me of my father. I'm thankful for the times this great sport brought us together. Even if our opinions on things vary, there is one thing we can always agree on: Our love for baseball.
