At 2:30 on Saturday afternoon, Christian and Alex left for a Kansas City Royals game. (Baseball, the quintessential boys’ date.) Left at home with two little ones, I had plans of my own. They involved novel revision at naptime and a whole lotta scrapbooking—in front of the chickiest chick flick I could find on our shelves—after bedtime. And in between, some silly play and a carousel ride with my babies.
I’m sure you can see where this is headed. My brain went on strike, and after spending half an hour staring at the same paragraph, knowing something was wrong but unable to figure out what, I gave up on the novel and started Evita on Netflix. And then the phone rang.
“Um, Kate,” said Christian, “I’ve lost the alternator and the power steering.”
“Where are you?”
“Exit 30.” (90 miles away…in case you’re wondering.)
Well. I imagine you can see where this is going. Yup. No carousel. No scrapbooking. Instead, an unexpected trip to Kansas City, with two children who took great exception to being pulled from nap and stuck in the car.
But the thing is…it was a lovely night. We called some former neighbors who recently moved to the KC area, and they rose to the occasion bee-yewtifully. They picked up the boys and dropped them off at Kauffman Stadium; they met me at the highway two hours later to hand me Alex’s car seat; and then—get this—they fixed the truck.
The little ones and I arrived at the stadium during the 7th inning stretch. We didn’t pay for parking, b/c there was nobody left to take our money, and Christian got the door guard to let us in without tickets, considering the circumstances.
Ridiculous as it sounds (considering how many Cardinals games I’ve attended), I’ve never been to a Royals game. The beauty and atmosphere of the place simply bowled me over. I think, in part, it was that gorgeous blue color. I’m so used to equating red with baseball that it never occurred to me how restful royal blue is on the eyes in a stadium setting. And then, there were the fountains.
Plus, they won.
Afterward, we had to search around the parking lot for quite a while (apparently my attempt to take note of landmarks was insufficient), but then we went to our former neighbors’ house—Alex was thrilled to have fifteen minutes to play with his little buddy—and picked up the truck.
A late night…we pulled into the garage at quarter of twelve, which is three hours past my bedtime, especially the night before we have to lead the contemporary group…but a good one. And an unexpected gift.
Linking up with Steady Mom’s 30-minute blog challenge and Emily’s Tuesdays Unwrapped.
Kathleen M. Basi 
Sometimes in marriage one of those unexpected events can turn out to be something wonderful.
What a wonderful and unexpected gift! They are the *best* ones! 🙂
What a great end to a potentially bad beginning! I love Kauffman stadium. Haven’t been there in years but, having grown up in St. Joe, will always have a soft place for the Royals in my heart…no matter how many jokes I have to endure from my husband about them being a farm team. 😉
I was prepared to read a disaster story and quite pleasantly surprised. I am glad that it turned out well.
What a great perspective!
That stadium is beautiful. And how nice that you were able to enjoy part of the game even though it was unexpected.
Great post! I grew up in Kansas City, and so I guess I’ve always taken our stadium for granted here – never realizing how it might look to someone who’s never been here before! I’ve always associated baseball with blue – and football with red (cuz the Chiefs are red, of course!)
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