Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks!

My favorite thing about Summer is baseball!  I have loved baseball for as long as I can remember.  As a child, I remember going to see my favorite player, Dale Murphy, play for the Braves at Fulton County stadium.  My Aunt Nancy worked for the Governor and was able to get us seats right behind home plate.  I had no idea how great these seats were until years later when I had to purchase baseball tickets myself.  :-)  I loved everything about the game, especially the treats...cotton candy, popcorn, ice cream, cracker jacks, and hot dogs!  What could be better!?  I loved the cheering with the organ and singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame.  (I even sang that song to my kids when I would rock them to sleep at night.)  I loved all baseball; it didn't have the be professional.  I loved watching my brother and his friends play Little League.  I especially loved helping my mom in the concession stand or my dad with the score box.  And, again, the food...especially that nasty, hard gum that came in the packs of baseball cards.  I saw my first concert at a baseball game too.  It was the Beach Boys at a Birmingham Barons baseball game.  I watched Michael Jordan try to change sports and play for the Barons too...he was awful!  I was even able to enjoy baseball indoors when we lived in Seattle and watched the Mariners play at the King Dome.  Ken Griffey, Jr was amazing!  Some of my good friends ran a stand outside the stadium and in high school, my friend, Melissa and I loved helping them sell peanuts and other snacks to people on their way into the game.  When the Olympics came to Atlanta, which sport do you think I chose to watch?  That's right...baseball!  That was my first time to see Turner Field, 1996(even though baseball wasn't played there for the Olympics)!  I had no idea then, that Turner Field would play such a BIG part in my relationship with the man who has now been my husband for 13 years!  TJ had season tickets when we first met working together at Mastermind Marketing in Atlanta and offered to take me to a game one night.  We shared those seats together many times after that, and later picked that field as the location of our wedding reception in 2003.  We went to so many games, I remember actually getting sick of having ballpark hot dogs for dinner.  We've visited a few other stadiums together, our favorite being Fenway Park in Boston.  I cannot wait to go back with the kids next month!  This season is the last season at Turner Field and it's made me sort of nostalgic over my love of baseball and how much time TJ and I have spent together at that field.  I can still remember Trip's first game as a sweet baby, sleeping through all the cheering and yelling.  I remember taking Mady too and hoping she'd grow up to like it as much as we do.  And, sweet Eli...we of course had to take him his first Summer with us.  Over the last few weeks, TJ has had one-on-one time with each of us at the field.  Even he and Eli made it through the 5th inning of a game earlier this week.  My love of the Braves began way back in the 1980s, when they were terrible.  I loved them with the rest of Atlanta the last 10-20 years when they've been good to great.  And, I still love them this season, even though they are the worst team in baseball.  Because, while I love to be at an exciting game, where they stakes are high and so is the score of your team, I mostly just love to be at the field with the people I love...and, of course eating the food I love too.       Take me out to the ballgame!!