Spending the day with my oldest daughter

Sunday was a very special day for me as a dad. I got the rare privilege of spending the day with my oldest daughter, just the two of us, enjoying the Minnesota Twins guarantee that the Chicago White Sox would have to prove on the field that they deserved to be Central Division Champs.

We were joined by my good friend BiggTree and his oldest son. We'd been hoping to get together to watch a game like this all summer. Nothing like waiting until the last minute...right?

The game went great. On the way to the game, my daughter asked me about yelling. Her little sister has been getting into a log of trouble for screaming lately. This is one of those awkward rules where you are really trying to teach the idea of appropriate behavior. While it is in appropriate to run into Mom & Dad's room at 6 AM on  Saturday screaming at the top of your lungs, when the Twins are winning and you are at the game and there are runners in scoring position, Daddy has no problem with you yelling. In fact, I told her, "Dad is really hoping that on the ride home my throat hurts from yelling."

"OK. So I can yell then?" she asks.

"I wouldn't want it any other way honey."

One of my goals for this game, other then a Twins victory at the expense of my vocal cords was to start teach my daughter how to score a baseball game.

We had arrived at the game a tad bit later then I had hoped. Dad, in his excitement had only checked the date number on the tickets. In my haste I had assumed that the two back tickets in our box would be for the same game. Silly me. Someone had shuffled the one side. I grabbed at ticket for Sunday September 28 and on for June 28th. Son of Julius Goat.

No matter, they had me on file and issued a new ticket, we just had fair less time to set up our scorecards then I'd like.

My little girl and I scored the first 3 innings. I figured this wasn't too bad. We had fun doing it, but the excitement of the game took over...that and a need for ice cream served in a mini-helmet. My goodness is that good.  Weird huh?

My beloved Twins finished the season with a shutout of the Kansas City Royals. A most exciting game, but I truly believe that KC has mastered the art of Advanced Losing. They performed mistakes you don't normally see at this level of baseball. One out, man on second, routine fly ball. My poor Twins were besides themselves. The runner at second had run home. With a quick tag of second base the inning was over. My little league coach would have killed anyone doing something that stupid. No, seriously...that's a little league mistake.

We share the day together. We laughed, we cheered, we hi-5ed. We even jumped up and down and in the end we walked out. Huge smiles on our face. We even got to see someone propose on the Kiss Cam! Man...now there is a guy that knows how to seize a moment. (I'm not kidding, during the kiss cam, a guy whipped out the box when he and his girl were in the heart...Nice thinking dude! Inspiring to think he realized that at that moment, he needed to call an audible and just get it done. Bravo!)

My day with my daughter wasn't quite done. We still had a long drive home. Mom asked to stop for dinner which sounded like a great idea. My wife is a wonderful person, I love her dearly, she just doesn't like to mix up her fast food. She's a die hard McD's fan. I'm a man that likes to do something different. I took my daughter to Burger King for her first time. When we got home, OhPrincess asked OhCountess when we could go to Burger King as a family, seems there burgers are different the McD's. I just smiled as OhCountess rolled her eyes. Yep, Dad pulled an end around.

I capped off my day tucking in my most precious girls. OhPrincess2 wanted to know when she would get to go to a baseball game with Dad. She needs to wait until next year. I just think she's too little this year for Dad to take her to the stadium by myself. She's too little to go to the bathroom by herself, but I don't think I could ever bring her to the men's room. OhPrincess gave me the biggest hug ever and thanked me. I almost cried.

Honey, no need to thank me. I need to thank you. What a perfect day.

PS. Please keep in mind that tonight, the Twins will be playing the White Sox in a one game playoff. This is a big game. If you aren't hospitalized or with someone that is hospitalized or in urgent need of serious medical attention - I don't care. You can call me tomorrow. Seriously folks, it's that important. I don't want your credit card, your survey, or hear about your plantars wart. Anyone trying to interupt will be shot on sight. May the best team from Minnesota win :-P