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Take Me Out to the Ballgame
Originally published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Miracles and More
Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.
~Maya Angelou
I think God must have smiled at my offer. Immediately, I was
given a vision or a premonition—and it scared me to death!
I saw myself getting ready to walk down the left aisle of
our church with my adult children, Darren and Michele, my son-in-law, Tim, and
my grandson, Kristopher. Although Kristopher was their only child, Michele was
carrying a little, dark-haired girl about two years old. Coming down the right
aisle was a tall man holding the hand of a little girl. The altar was filled
with beautiful, pink flowers!
The vision only lasted a few seconds, but it was so real
that I was shaking and confused. I thought about it for a few days and then
forgot about it as I struggled to survive. Working two jobs, I had no social
life at all.
I did enjoy watching our local baseball team, the California
Angels, on TV. Finally, at my friends’ urging, I joined the Angels Booster
Club. It was fun to attend the baseball games as a group and hand out give-away
items at the gates. While working the gates, I met John, one of the club
members. He was so friendly, and we talked and laughed a lot.
Whenever the team was out of town, a group of us would
gather to watch the Angels on TV. John was always present and hopeful of a
relationship, but I told him, “I enjoy being with you, but I’m not interested
in anything more.” He would just nod his head and smile.
One day, John’s parents invited me to their house for a
party. John had an adorable daughter, Jamie, and it was her sixth birthday. I
knew he had a little girl, but he was pretty protective of her and hadn’t
introduced us until he was sure about his feelings for me. She and I bonded
immediately, but I told John, “I still don’t want to get married again—ever.”
John just smiled and nodded his head in that infuriating way of his. I
responded with an adamant, “I mean it!”
“I know you do—now,” he replied, grinning.
I took the problem to God. “Why won’t he believe me? I don’t
want to hurt him, God, but I just don’t want to get married again.”
One day, John and I were sitting at the park watching Jamie
play on the monkey bars. “You know,” John said quietly, “we might as well get
married. We’re together all the time, and we get along so well. I can’t imagine
my life without you.”
I had a lump in my throat as I sat there staring at him and
then at his sweet girl. Neither of us spoke for a long time, and then I said,
“I can’t imagine my life without both of you, either.”
We decided on a February church wedding and a reception at
Angel Stadium where we had met. Michele and Tim came from Minnesota to visit us
in October and arrived with Kristopher, now four years old, and two-year-old,
Kelly, my little, dark-haired granddaughter.
On Wednesday of their weeklong visit, Michele said to me,
“Mom, we’re going to start building our new house, and we won’t be able to come
back in February for your wedding.”
“What shall we do?” I asked John.
With his usual calm, he asked me, “What’s more important to
you—to have all the kids there or to have the wedding we planned in February?”
When he said that, I remembered that vision from three years
before. “It’s definitely more important to have all the kids there,” I replied,
“but how can we pull this together so quickly?”
“We’ll just split up all the tasks, and everyone can help,”
he replied confidently.
I called my friend, Betty, who worked at a nursery. “John
and I are getting married on Saturday. Can you help with the flowers?”
“Of course, I wouldn’t miss it,” she replied calmly. “What
color is your dress?”
“I don’t have one yet!” In fact, I hadn’t even thought about
it.
“Okay,” Betty said, “your flowers will be pink. Pink will go
with any color you choose.”
I called our Booster Club friends to see if they could serve
refreshments. They jumped right in and even planned to wear their Booster Club
shirts.
Another friend, Isobel, offered to make our wedding cake.
“No one else can make your cake and put all the love into it that I can,” she
said.
Everyone pitched in. Some made calls since we had no time to
send invitations. Others offered to decorate and make punch. “I’ll get napkins,
plates and cups,” my future father-in-law volunteered. I wondered if it would
all match when the pieces were put together.
At the rehearsal, I told our pastor about my vision. “I
think it was a picture from God,” I explained, “so I want to walk down the left
aisle with my children and grandchildren while John walks down the right aisle
with his daughter. Then we can all come out the center aisle together as one
family.”
“I think that’s a fine idea,” he agreed, smiling.
On Saturday, I walked into the church reception hall, and
everything looked beautiful! Everything that our friends and family had
prepared fit together beautifully. Isobel’s cake looked like three layers of
love and deliciousness. There were the plates and napkins with our names printed
on them as promised. And—everything was pink!
Just before we were to walk down the aisle, Kelly slipped
and started to cry, so Michele picked her up and held her, and we walked down
the aisle together just as I had seen in my vision.
The pastor even included all the kids in the ceremony. After
we said our vows, he had us all clasp hands on top of my Bible and asked my
children, “Do you promise to respect and honor John and this marriage?”
“Yes, we do,” they promised.
Turning to Jamie, the pastor asked her, “Do you promise to
respect and honor Judee as your stepmother?”
“I do,” she answered in a solemn, small voice.
“Then I pronounce this family is one in the sight of God and
these witnesses!” announced the pastor.
As we started our journey together down the center aisle, we
laughed out loud as the organist played a dignified rendition of “Take Me Out
to the Ballgame” on the church organ. We had heard that song hundreds of times,
but now we would hear our song at every baseball game!
~Judee Stapp
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