Of love and baseball
So for once, I turned up in the right place at the right time…
Naturally the primary reason for my weekend visit to Chicago was to spend time with these most excellent people:
‘Mr. Bones’ joined the family for this portrait; the children are very excited about the approaching Halloween festivities.
The presence of my daughter-in-law’s parents was a most welcome bonus.
We got to preview Etta’s Halloween costume. She’s going to be a fortune teller.
This is a far cry from her first Halloween. At the age of about three weeks, she was a ladybug! As for Welles, he wants only to be Spiderman, his current favorite action hero.
Amidst all the family activities, a great drama was unfolding in the world of baseball: the Cubs were on the verge of winning their first National League Pennant since 1945. I’m not much of a sports fan, but I have a residual affection for the game of baseball. Growing up in northern New Jersey in the 1950s, with the New York Yankees, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and he New York Giants nearby, it would have been hard to stay aloof from the National Pastime. My brothers and I didn’t even try. At one point, my older brother actually wrote a letter to the Yankees – the team we rooted for – to tell them of a magical occurrence: every time he wore his Yankee baseball cap, the Yanks won!
My Dad loved baseball too. And Dad, you would have appreciated that game last Saturday. The Cubs hit the ground running, scoring immediately in the first inning. The high octane drama continued, with pitcher Kyle Hendricks keeping the Dodgers scoreless and very nearly hitless (he allowed two). I loved watching him. His form was a thing of beauty; his face an absolute mask of concentration. The game ended with an electrifying double play, clinching a 5-0 win over the LA Dodgers. Then, all you-know-what broke loose:
At 9:45, cheers erupted, not only from our gang but outside too, up and down the street. Car horns honking, fireworks, police sirens (but things did not get out of hand). Chicago is a city that’s taken its lumps in the press lately, so this healthy dose of good news was especially appreciated.
Sunday morning we were greeted by this Chicago Tribune front page story:
Now, two games into the 2016 World Series, the Cubs and the Cleveland Indians each have one win under their respective belts. Of course, I’ll continue to root for the Cubs, but no matter which team wins the championship, there’s no taking away the gift that the Cubs bestowed on the people of Chicago last Saturday.
And as the weekend drew to a close, our dear Etta, who loves to paint and draw, made this gift for Ron and me:
Books to the Ceiling 