Thinking Out Loud Thursday - Opening Day Edition

Monday was a very special day in St. Louis -- it was the Cardinal's home opener!  The city goes crazy for the home opener and you can feel the energy and excitement in the air.  Fountains are dyed red, roads are closed for vendors and the city is a buzz.  Cardinal Nation is alive and ready to cheer on their favorite baseball team.

Opening day was a little rough for me this year.  Under the excitement, I was deeply missing my friend Jane.  Jane, who died of cancer in January, LOVED opening day.  As a matter of fact, Jane had been going to opening day for as long as I could remember.  We had so many pictures of us outside the stadium with the look of hope in our eyes for another year of the Cardinals going to the World Series.  We would banter back and forth throughout the game via text and most of time have lengthy conversations after the game about the highlights.  By highlights I mean we would talk about who was sitting where and who was going to be our favorite players that year.

Even though Jane wasn't at the game physically on Monday, she showed up in spirit right before the game began.  You see, St. Louis woke up Monday morning to heavy rain and cloud cover.  The rain was persistent through the morning and the 3:15 start time looked like it could be in jeopardy.  But just after noon, the clouds cleared and the sun made it's appearance.  Thanks, Jane, for sending us sunshine.  And a huge win over the Milwaukee Brewers!  Jane I know you were up in heaven, wearing your Cardinals jersey, looking down on us and enjoying the game.  Thanks for the help on Monday.

It was a blessing that Ian got to join me this year.  He totally understood how I was feeling and helped me through the moments when I just couldn't hold back my tears.  Plus it was such a wonderful mom/son day!  I've found that getting the opportunity to spend the day with your adult child is even more special than when they were little.  Maybe it's just the fact that it doesn't happen as often.  Or maybe it's because now that I'm older I appreciate things more.  Whatever it is, the day will go down as one of my favorites with him and I am so grateful his scheduled allowed him to go.

If you've never been to an opening day in St. Louis, you don't know what you're missing.  It's a standing tradition for the Anheuser Busch Clydesdales to make an appearance.  They parade around the outfield and the crowd goes wild.  Every year I take 19894838 lots of pictures of them.  My grandchildren someday will probably wonder why their crazy grandma felt the need to take so many pictures of this team of horses.  Here are just a few of the ones I took this year ~

It's also a tradition to have all the Hall of Fame Cardinal players announced.  This year was so special because our beloved favorite Lou Brock had part of his leg amputated in October and was there to throw out the first pitch.  

The current players parade in around the outfield in individual trucks and are announced at home plate.  We do love our players!

It's always a great day when you bring home a win - and that's what we did on opening day.  I'm excited that we have the season ahead of us and can't wait to enjoy this national pastime in the coming months.  

So that's what I'm thinking out loud about today.  What's your favorite sports team?  Now it's your turn - join me and Vanessa at X-tremely V by linking up your favorite post(s) from the week.  We love hearing from you!

Enjoy more Thoughts for Thursday at

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