Baseball, Bricktown and Blood

          Living well into the sixth decade of our lives, we’re still finding that it’s fun to do new things – like go to a minor league baseball game for the first time ever. Oklahoma City has a beautiful baseball stadium in the heart of the city – Bricktown, we call it. And we have a great baseball team in the Oklahoma City Redhawks.

          Honestly, our new adventure came about with free tickets given by the Oklahoma Blood Institute in their recent donor campaign. Since I’m O+, I get scheduled reminders that it’s time to pay them a visit every 6 weeks. I feel blessed to be on the giving end of that procedure.

          OK, back to the game. The weather last Sunday night was quite a treat for Oklahomans coming out of two previous hot and record breaking summer seasons. Our seats were in the shade near third base and the breeze was an added pleasure.

 

          When I asked Bud how he was enjoying the game, his reply was that, well, it did give him time to think of other things. And he was so right. Baseball is relaxing to watch. And there’s just enough excitement built in with a couple of homeruns and a close-scoring game to keep relaxation from turning to boredom. Our minds did have time to think ahead – or back as the case may be. But the sound of a bat connecting with a baseball traveling 85 – 95 mph kept our thoughts from staying too far.

          Our Redhawks made us proud with two homeruns (one of them brought in a second runner) and won the game 4 – 3 over Iowa’s team.

         The tough part was inhaling the aroma of funnel cakes, hot dogs and nachos. Our new health-conscious lifestyle kept our resolve intact, and we just settled for the atmosphere of the wonderful food served up as only Oklahomans can.

          Another first? Singing along with “Take Me Out To the Ball Game” during the seventh inning stretch. It made the evening complete. We may even buy our tickets next time.