We Made the Playoffs!!!

I went to my very first Baltimore Orioles game in 1998. I was 10 years old and all I cared about was watching this guy:

The Oriole bird. Only the BEST mascot in the league. 

Shortly thereafter the Orioles became my obsession. I lived and breathed orange and black. My birthday wish lists always consisted of t-shirts, hats, magazines and of course tickets to a game. I still have notebooks full of scores and play-by-plays and I even have a folder FULL of newspaper clippings of box scores and pictures up in the attic. My mom will probably never forget the worst birthday present I ever gave her: a crying hissy fit while eating out for her birthday because I was missing Mike Mussina pitching (but really, what was she thinking wanting to go out to eat when Moose was pitching?! Just kidding mom, kidddding). When the O's did the "kids run the bases after the game" promo, you know I was out there running the bases with all the little 6 year olds. My middle school/high school dreams consisted of meeting Cal Ripken and Brady Anderson in person, oh yeah, and being the first woman major league baseball player. I fell asleep dreaming about playing with the O's...and then hooking up with Brady Anderson...

Moving to Utah for school was one of the hardest things for me because I didn't get to watch the boys play. I was still super into baseball, but definitely not like the old days. I've learned to live in a way where my life doesn't revolve around the Orioles like it used to. It's good. Healthy. HOWEVER, every year, every single year I had so much faith that "this is the year". That went on for 14 years. But this year, HAS been the year. I am SO proud of the Orioles for making the playoffs.

 Let's go O's!!

Watching the Orioles in Oakland

Watching the O's in Phoenix

The sweetest thing about today is that both mine AND Darin's teams made the playoffs. Let's hope we see some magic today :).