OOOOOOO Yeah

I went to a Relief Society activity on Tuesday night. This is what I came home to:

Do you know how happy this scene made my heart? I mean, he put his O's gear on for the big game and everything:

I should have known he would, he is Darin after all. "Go put your O's shirt on!" he shouted to me as soon as I walked in the door (he's a bit superstitious when it comes to these kinds of things). It makes me so happy that Darin has embraced Oriole's baseball so much since we started dating a few years back. Obviously the Braves are still his homeboys but I just love him even more for loving the Orioles as well.

Throughout middle school and high school my grandpa would always email me and ask, "Well, BK, is this the year? Is this the year that the O's are gonna do it?" I always responded with an optimistic, "Yes! This IS the year!" I said that for a good seven years (the seven years of my life that were dedicated to Oriole's baseball, even though it's been 17 since they last clinched their division...).

I was SO confident that the Oriole's WOULD finally have a winning season. I thought this EVERY season for so long.  Usually by the end of the season I was just hoping that they wouldn't be in last place.

 It's been really fun to see them win the past three years. Seeing them make it into the playoffs in 2012 was incredible. Seeing them clinch their division on Tuesday night for a guaranteed spot in the playoffs was a dream come true. 

Although I am absolutely loving all of this hype with the O's, it's definitely made me think a lot about how I've changed over the years. Watching them celebrate on Tuesday night, I kind of wished that I could have brought back high school Brillante. I can't imagine how much it would have meant to me to see that happen back then. High school Brillante DEFINITELY wouldn't have missed half the game to go to a RS activity, that's for sure.

I still love the Oriole's and all, but the feeling is different than it was when I lived and breathed Oriole's baseball and that was about the extent of my life. It's funny how things change you. Going to Chile changed me. BYU changed me. My mission changed me. Jobs have changed me. Friends have changed me. Becoming a wife changed me. Becoming a mother changed me. It's interesting to think about the ways that all of those things have changed me and to see the effects of that in other aspects of my life, like baseball for example. I'll always love baseball, but I'm glad that I've changed. I'm glad that I don't cry when I miss a game, or have a notebook filled with notes on every single at bat of every single player, or folders full of newspaper clippings, and I'm glad that I don't want to be mad at every person I see wearing a Yankee's hat (not that it makes me particularly happy either). And I guess that's how life should be right? We should be changing and those changes should affect the way we view other things in life.

With that said, I cannot wait to see the Oriole's play in the playoffs and have high hopes of them going all the way. Oriole's magic baby!