“I love you more than baseball!”

“I love you more than baseball!” – words said by Bryan Cranston to his wife and daughter. 

As you well know by now, your dad is a baseball guy. I LOVE everything about it! The sounds, smell of the fresh cut grass, the ups, and the downs (which, as a new Mets fan, you are too young to know about). It is the game for me!

To know how your dad became a devout New York Mets fan you need to go way, way back to when I was a teenager (yes, I actually once was young). It was then that I decided that, due to all the movies and New Year eve specials I saw, I was going to move to NYC!  I had recently gone through one of the worst break ups of my life – with baseball. In 1994, when I was just 13, MLB decided to go on strike. It was then, as a HUGE Atlanta Braves fan, I gave up on the game.

I needed a hat, however, for the summer. I looked ALL around for a New York Yankees hat (because they were all I knew of NYC at the time) but couldn’t find one that I liked. It was in the last store I saw a $6 New York Mets hat. I didn’t know anything about the team other than they had a former favorite player of mine. Oh well, I thought! It’s $6 and it’s NYC! Let’s do it!

Little did I know this hat would be the start of the longest relationship I’ve ever had. Once I started college, I was teased to no end because I liked a NYC team while living in Atlanta, GA. Suddenly, I had to defend my choice and, as with many relationships, I once again was in love with baseball but with a whole new team – The New York Mets! Over the years, we’ve won, lost a TON, but I’ve also had moments that I’ll forever cherish (going to Shea Stadium w/ your aunt & uncle when we first moved to NYC, taking their boys to their first game, and falling more in love with your mom at all the countless games we went to). It hasn’t been easy to be a fan of theirs, but I do have pride in knowing whenever someone from my past and present hears anything regarding them, they think of me.

Fast forward to this past year. We made it to the World Series, and you were my good luck charm! Sure, we didn’t win, but it was an amazing ride! A strange thing happened when we lost however…I wasn’t that upset. The first time I saw them, I didn’t have your mom or you but now that you’re both around, I was...well…grateful for the journey.

Fast forward to you being in the hospital. Seeing your baby in the hospital is something I wish you never have to endure. You got RSV and needed to be taken to the ER. My heart stopped. All day your mom held you close as could be and, for the first time since you’ve been with us, you stopped smiling.  You fought it like a champ, and you got better. I still remember how excited I was to once again have you leave the hospital and come home with us!

It was then I realized why losing the World Series didn’t faze me nearly as much as seeing those tubes that helped you breathe.

Because I too love you more than baseball.

P.S. Being your dad is awesome!