section 218 row 10

We went to the Atlanta yesterday...just for the Braves game and just for the day, twelve-ish hours to be exact.  We decided when we woke up in the morning that we wanted to go and bought some tickets online to the sold out post season game.  We only asked each other once if we were crazy for doing it, I warmed up my "oooo, oh, ooohhh ohh" chop vocals in the shower, got another friend on board and drove there and back yesterday.  It was easy, fun and so worth it!

Y'all know I love going to the Braves game....love it.  Last August I posted this little piece that covered my thoughts on hot dogs, sweaty seats, boyhood baseball dreams, ball park vendors and the invention of "the wave".  Rest assured that all of those realizations and experiences still hold true and are alive and well, thank goodness.

But yesterday was a playoff game, so there was more reason to pay attention to what was actually going on in the diamond, excitement was through the roof, you held your breath during every pitch and the fate of world series dreams hinged partly on the game last night.  And most importantly, they were giving away red spongy tomahawks when you walked through the gate...I think I giggled, I beamed, I probably skipped for a few steps, I made Collin promise me with his life that he wouldn't lose his and I was in baseball heaven.

However, along with all my other observations that have nothing to do with the actual game, the strategy, the players or statistics...there is one that hit me yesterday, hit me hard and so good. 

I LOVE watching people see themselves on the jumbo-tron.

Seriously, think about it. Everybody stays glued to that screen throughout most of the game and you giggle and smile and cheer for fellow fans, for...strangers.  Seeing the pure joy people get from realizing they are on the jumbo-tron dancing, cheering, wearing their war paint, bouncing a baby or kissing their partner of 60 years makes me feel a little better about the world.  I've not had the pleasure of being featured on the jumbo-tron (yet!), but I sat there yesterday and couldn't stop thinking about how I could apply this lesson to my vision and version of my own utopia: 

I want I wake up everyday, look the mirror and see myself, excited and confident with what I see. I want to start each day with that pure joy knowing I'm making thousands of people around me smile too. Thousands of fellow fans, fellow strangers, and fellow....human beings.

go bravos.