Just in case you were wondering or are visiting, one of the touristy things Kansas City is known for, perhaps the only touristy thing other than BBQ, are our fountains. We have lots of them. Rumor has it, we have the most in one city inside of the United States. I think the most famous of our fountains is the JC Nichols Fountain. It sits right on the corner of our ritzy plaza district. (Basically restaurants and shopping and really pretty Christmas lights.) This is what the fountain looks like most of the year:
But sometimes something magical happens to this fountain and the color changes to celebrate or honor something big that is going on. Like pink for breast cancer awareness and yellow for childhood cancer month. The last few weeks this majestic fountain has been a beautiful Royal Blue, you guessed it, to cheer on our winning baseball team. If you know me well, you know that I am not that passionate about sports. Most bore me and some infuriate me because of the violence and incidence of head injuries. I will not go there, as I do not want to lose most of my readers. 😀
But there is one sport that is special to me and gives me serious warm fuzzy feelings. And that sport is Baseball. Admittedly, I often get bored during this sport also but for the most part, there is something classic and all- American about it.
It may be because I grew up hearing stories of my great great grandfather Jay Towne playing in the 1905 World Series for the Chicago White Sox. Maybe it was my dad's stories of baseball cards and Pittsburgh Pirate's games. Maybe it was the movie The Sandlot or Angels in the Outfield or A League of their Own.
More than likely it was the summer tradition my dad and I had of going to see at least one Royals game at Kauffman Stadium. It didn't matter that the Royals were terrible every game we went to. I really don't think I saw them win a game until a couple years ago. It was about the bonding time and the hot dogs and the cotton candy and "Lima"nade and bobble heads and stupid expensive t-shirts and foam fingers. It was the silliness and the pride I saw in my dad as he tried to explain the game to me, which I'm sure eventually turned to annoyance but he didn't show it. Then there was the one time the drunk guys in front of us turned around, after my dad cheered for free doughnuts we would all recieve for having 12 hits, and patted my dads stomach and said "looks like you should lay off the doughnuts and go for a fruit basket!" Maybe that was just funny to me.
As I got older, mom and Neal started joining us at games. Thank you to my moms former job which always offered amazing tickets. I do miss that perk, Mom. And many many more memories were made. In much better seats too.
And then last season. Our team was suddenly doing really well. Maybe that had been on the way up for awhile but I had somewhat lost interest. I was 9 months pregnant and Neal told me we had a shot at the playoffs. I think my reaction was "excuse me what?" I don't know if I knew that baseball was played into October. Certainly not Royal's baseball. But I was wrong because the unthinkable happened. If you're from Kansas City you know this part. If not a quick recap. We won a crazy wild card game, Neal and I feel asleep in the 7th. I was super pregnant and the Royals were really losing . Then around midnight I woke up with heartburn and checked my Facebook and screamed with delight! We had come back and won!! Now Neal and I try to stay awake for most important games. Then a few sweeps through the playoffs and then a heartbreaking loss in the 7th game of the World Series. Darn Bumgarner! Oh yea, somewhere in there, on the first day of the series to be exact, I went through some seriously awful labor and had a baby. Our baseball baby Max!
Fast forward a year and here we are again. Back in the series. A day after a really long exciting game one victory. But let's go back to the fountain. Did I mention that I drive by it 8 times a week on my way to and from Charlotte's preschool? Last week, I took Max for some fountain pictures. 
And today, I decided I was going to take Charlotte after school. I picked her up and got in the car and debated stopping because I knew I would have to parallel park and walk a little while with a cranky outdoor hating baby. I told myself that if there was an easy parking spot we would do it. And guess what? There was. A perfect spot and not that far from the fountain. I put Charlotte in the stroller and the wind was blowing, something she loves and the sun, something she hates, was covered by the clouds. So she smiled the whole walk. When we approached the fountain a huge laugh erupted out of her. Pure joy! Max had a similar reaction but not as exuberant. I took her out of her stroller and set her next to the fountain. She was giggling and watching the blue water shoot up from the ground. I got on my knees and tried to get her attention on me. It took several attempts but at just the right moment she turned towards me grabbed her feet and gave me the best smile. And I caught it on my camera!!! Out of my mouth came the word "Perfect." I realized as I was saying it that about 10 people in their early 20's were passing by and watching this whole thing happen and about half of them said perfect at the exact same time as me. We all giggled, my heart swelled with pride and they moved on. The picture was perfect. Her smile was perfect, the fountain looked beautiful and she was looking directly at me. I immediately sent it to Neal. He agreed that the picture was amazing. Sheer luck, because I am no photographer.
The whole way home I kept thinking about that word. Perfect. Yes, those strangers agreed that my little girl in her Royal's shirt in front of a blue fountain took a perfect picture. To them all they knew of Charlotte was that picture and the only word they used to describe it was perfect. Wow. They didn't know we had just left a therapeutic preschool. They didn't know that Charlotte had choked on a piece of Chex a few hours prior. They don't know we have a MRI scheduled for December to check her brain for any imperfections. They just saw a cute smile in a front of a beautiful fountain. And at that moment so did I. And that's the thing she is perfect, I know this because I know that the way those strangers saw her in those few split seconds is how God sees her all the time. He said she is wonderfully made. She is Charlotte and she is her kind of perfect, her kind of perfect for today and tomorrow if something changes she will be tomorrow's kind of perfect. And I will choose everyday to find that perfection in both of my children no matter the situation.
The Royals haven't always played well, actually they had some really awful seasons where none of their fans could really claim perfection. But they were still fans. There was joy and perfection in those 1995 losing games to a 10 year old Katie with her Daddy. There is joy and perfection in the 2015 winning World Series games to 30 year old Katie (who still calls her Daddy after every playoff or World Series game. I guess it's all about perspective. My perspective may not always be positive and I know I will still grieve and hurt. I'm talkin about Charlotte here but this may also apply to the Royals in a few years. But I am going to make a promise to try to find a little bit of perfection in my perspective.
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