World Series Champions

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When you reminisce about your childhood and the way you were raised, there are few things that have remained consistent through time. You could say that family, faith, and some friends have always been there, but as times change and children grow into teenagers and then adults, few hobbies/likes/dislikes stayed constant.
 
As far back as I can remember, baseball has always been a huge part of my family life. From April to October, you could almost always catch an afternoon or evening game on our television. If we weren't watching baseball on TV, we were playing baseball/softball at the ball fields or even better, we were attending a game at the Astrodome or Minute Maid Park.

Those rainbow seats, the giant scoreboard, Orbit running around on the field, Junction Jack, Tal's Hill, the roar of thousands and thousands of Houston fans...there's just not quite anything else like it in the world. 

Throughout my childhood, we took yearly summer vacations to Houston where we would spend a day at Astroworld (rest in peace) followed up with an Astros game the next day.

As a teen, my dad and I formed a bond over our love for this sport. One day, he showed me his box of baseball cards that dated back to the 1960's and I was instantly fascinated. During those teenage years when relationships can be strained between a kid and their parents, my dad and I spent HOURS at local card shops over the weekends, scouring through boxes and boxes of baseball cards. I was determined to find rookie cards of all of my favorite Astros and I almost succeeded. Those cards still remain in a box under my bed to this day and I pull them out on the random occasion to take a walk down memory lane.

It's funny how over time, those moments and memories come and go....even funnier how a smell or sound can bring us right back to that moment and all of those memories come flooding back. Baseball will do that to you. It's a sport where you can experience some really big highs and some really incredible lows. It's an unpredictable game and one that makes you truly believe that anything can happen.

Biggio, Bagwell, the Killer B's - the mid to late 1990's were perhaps one of my favorite times as an Astros fan, as my true love for this organization began to develop. I spent many a night cheering on my favorite boys of summer as they went through division wins to the playoffs, the World Series in 2005, and back to the rebuilding process to start over from scratch again. Watching Craig Biggio receive his Hall of Fame plaque in Cooperstown New York two summers ago was a pretty special moment, too.

Now that I'm a parent, I want to pass on the tradition of the love for this sport to my son - one that began back with my own grandfather and his son (my dad). I want to tell him stories of how I grew up watching baseball with my dad and how 9 innings of a World Series game on November 1, 2017 was added to the list as one of the best moments of my life.

I honestly never ever thought I would see the day when the Astros would win the World Series. Not at all because I didn't believe in them, but because luck never seemed to be on their side.

The. World. Series. Y'all. Somehow it still hasn't fully sunk it.

I finally understand how Saints fans felt back in 2010...and Cubbies fans felt last year. When your team, a team you've been following most of your life is able to accomplish what seems to be a near impossible feat, it's one of the most incredible feelings in the world. I'm pretty sure I'm still walking on cloud 9.

Thank you, Astros. Thank you for allowing the heart of a young girl and her dad form a bond over the love of a team and a sport. Thank you for showing people everywhere that anything is possible if you believe. Thank you for giving hope to the city of Houston after such devastation. Thank you for a lifetime of precious memories. You will never know how much it truly means to me.