December 23, 2019

I’ve been so busy getting for Christmas with our kids and grandkids —our first one together in 8 years—that I haven’t been on Facebook much. So, when I finally logged on after a few days on Friday, one of the notifications I got was from a group I belong to: the St. Louis Cardinals Fan Group.

For some reason, just seeing that got me thinking about something that had happened a few nights before at bingo…and it wasn’t the first time. Actually, it’s happened before on several occasions in various places.

It starts off with someone discovering my love for the Cardinals, usually by way of a t-shirt I’ m wearing. In Monday’s instance, some guy at the table took one look at my Tervis tumbler with the Cards’ logo, and used that as an opportunity to make a snide comment about my team. Then he went on to claim his loyalty to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

I don’t care.

As long as someone’s a genuine fan (like the TWO, completely unrelated Cincinnati Reds’ fans I met this summer—up until then, I’d never met even one), I don’t care what team they love. To each his own.

Just don’t bash my team. They have, after all, won a total of 11 World Series, second only to the New York Yankees, so just Stop.

I certainly have never felt persecuted, but it did get me wondering if this ever happens to Cardinal-fans living outside of St. Louis. So, I posted a synopsis of the incident on the Facebook group, and it generated a few ‘likes’ and 47 comments in less than 90 minutes. It was surprising to know there were that many fevered Cardinal fans already online at 7 a.m.

Fans from all over the world replied to my query: Italy, Japan, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Uruguay, and of course, all over the U.S. That blew my mind! Seventy-two hours later, the post has generated 172 comments.

I’ve only read a smidgen of them (because of getting ready for Christmas with the kids), but one comment actually parlayed into something more that was completely unexpected:

We’re actually going to a game!!!

A teacher from Dallas mentioned that the Cardinals were playing the Texas Rangers on March 23 in the inaugural game in the Rangers’ brand new stadium. Say what?!

I checked the schedule, and sure enough, they are. And we’re going!

I could not have known when I woke up Friday morning that I’d have tickets to a Cardinal baseball game by Friday evening. But every once in a blue moon, some things that are completely unrelated come together just right.

Is that odd? Or is that God? I can’t help but wonder.

More than anything, this episode has assured me that I am not the only one that takes flack about something. Putting the question, has this ever happened to you? opened the door to much more than validation. It resulted in connection and communication, and I think that’s what social media was intended to do in the first place.

Here’s wishing you Peace and Love. Merry Christmas, Friends💞