I awoke today to the sound of Door County Mocha Mint Coffee Brewing in the kitchen. That sound is one that I never get tired of. Each day as the coffee maker sings, it signals a new beginning.
Last night we had the extreme pleasure of taking Rene's mom to her first major league baseball game. The two of us had always talked about it but somewhere in each of those conversations we convinced ourselves that the stadium would be too difficult for her to navigate or she wouldn't be interested. Instead of making assumptions, we should have asked.
Romans 8:28 New International Version (NIV)
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.
During one of her visits to Mom's house Rene returned home to tell me that her mother had booked a senior citizens trip to a baseball game and due to a nasty cold had to cancel going. Rene said that her mom was very disappointed because she was looking forward to going to her "first baseball game". She wanted to see the stadium, the crowds and a game. Milwaukee has a pretty good baseball team and they play some exciting baseball. The city has a class A stadium that has a retractable roof so games are never rained out or at times snowed out. It is a wonderful way to spend a day or evening.
Well it did not take very long to pick a date and set the wheels in motion for a Friday night visit to the ball park, a game, and dinner. Things did not actually go as planned and just maybe they turned out better. Our plan was to "tailgate" which means we were going to picnic in the stadium parking lot, grilling sausages, eating potato salad and snacks. The first thing that went right or wrong was that our small gas grill malfunctioned and we had a propane leak. Desiring to not experience an explosion or fire we regrouped and decided that we would dine on stadium food, which is always good but tends to be crowded. Let me tell you that Rene's mom is 91 years old and is in good shape, but I was a little worried about her being overwhelmed by the crowd of people. I offered to obtain a free shuttle service to drive us from our parking area to the stadium gate, but Mother wanted to walk the quarter mile to the entrance. We both shrugged and said let's go! She was moving better than this 61 year old and the excitement of being at the stadium was visible. Mother spotted the gift shop for memorabilia and asked if we could go in. We did and she shopped for over thirty minutes, picking out her souvenir's to purchase. Rene purchased a Milwaukee Brewers shirt for mother and soon we were headed to our seats and something to eat. We arrived to the area where our seats were and to our surprise I had booked the seats on a fancy level of the stadium experience equipped with actual waiters who brought the food to our seats. In addition the concourse was carpeted with nice seating in it. It made the bathroom trips super easy and eating a breeze. The cost of the tickets for some reason was cut in half because of some promotion. I chose the seats for the view of the game and had never thought about the cushy service. It was a surprise that made the disappointment of a failed picnic worth it.
What I noticed was that although our 91 year old companion is amazing for her age and moved about at will, she is still slow and needs to take stairs cautiously. This caution slowed down traffic behind her. Here is the amazing blessing. People who can be people and in a hurry waited patiently and as we excused ourselves for going slow, they smiled, moved to open doors, say hello to mother, and laughed when she was going down the wrong side of the stairwell. They were kind, considerate, helpful and pleasant. It made me proud to say they are from "My Town".
I watched mother throughout the game. She stood, placed her hand over her heart and sang the national anthem with a tear in her eye. She did not take a knee. She clapped, cheered, drank her bottled water and munched on pretzels during the game. I was wondering what was going on in her mind during the game. On the way home to her house it came out. "I never knew how much I would see tonight. There is so much to take in and it was wonderful. We have to do this again".
Lord willing, we will do it again next year. We had prayed about this excursion and wondered if it would be a good one for mother. What started out bad and now that I see how it worked out, was taken care of by God. The picnic would have been tough. The weather was a little cold outside, the stadium was sheltered and warm. The wind in the parking lot would have made eating difficult for Mother. What we thought was a disappointment allowed a 91 year old to shop without a crowd and then be waited on at her seat. She thought she was a queen.
This blog is a little long today and so be it. Friends, you might be walking through disappointment today. You can't see the future and what may seem as nasty or difficult today might have a silver lining to it tomorrow or years from now. Whatever it is, turn it over to God and let him navigate the crowded stadium of your life for you and with you. We put this whole thing to prayer and God's plans were much better than ours. By the way, the sausages survived in a cooler and will be grilled tonight at home.!
God bless,
Marty
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