Spring training is here! Welcome back baseball! This past year, the Mets gained three new little fans! Hmmmm, maybe four! I guess I’m taking a liking to baseball myself. My husbands’ yelling and screaming make it hard for me not to wonder what is going on in the game! The love for baseball can be handed down from generation to generation in many different ways. Sometimes from fathers to sons, sometimes from uncles to nephews. For my husband, the love for baseball wasn’t handed down, but rather grew in him as a young child. He began his love affair with the New York Mets when he was 7 years old in 1985. His love for the team spread quickly to his mother. She understood nothing about the game when this all started, but little by little as he explained the game to her she fell in love with it too. The love of baseball, and in particular, the love for the Mets was something special that they shared. Even though the team struggled for many years, they followed them faithfully. Some of his happiest memories are lazy summer afternoons sitting in the backyard listening to the game on the radio together and summer nights watching the games on TV cheering them on.

The two of them would go to Shea Stadium and cheer for the team they loved. Maybe baseball was just an excuse for him to spend time with the mother he adored and looked up to. Maybe baseball was just her excuse to sit next to her youngest son and cheer about a common love. Their relationship was a special one, they enjoyed a lot of the same things, but none more than the New York Mets.

When we had our 3 little girls, my husband never pushed baseball upon them. He never imagined that they would one day learn to love the team he has faithfully followed now for more than 30 years. But as they watched him root for the team they too, started to root right there along beside him.  It’s been really sweet to watch my little girls share in the love of baseball with their daddy. My girls have learned to the love the Mets…to love the game of baseball…to love the time spent watching the games with their dad. Can you guess who their favorite player is?

This post is dedicated to my mother in law who was the biggest Met fan of all. Unfortunately she passed away August 31, 2015 right before the Mets went to the world series. We have a feeling she was watching and had the best seat in the house!