Monday, April 6th was Opening Day for the Brewers this year. I went to bed Sunday afternoon, trying to sleep off a cold that had started to take hold. I woke on Monday still feeling it, and stayed home. I remembered when I woke up at 12:45 again that it was opening day, and I discovered that the game started at 1:10. Lucky.
I wouldn’t like baseball at all if it weren’t for Ian. I had always thought of it as boring and silly. Ian loved it so much that his love was infectious. If you showed even the slightest interest in learning anything about it, he’d teach. He’d teach you in the way that anyone who’s passionate about something will teach, more talking about all the things they love, why it’s so fascinating, and what makes it so wonderful than trying to make sure you understand how it works. The understanding comes naturally from learning why the love it. How they love it.
He was so proud of himself for introducing so many people to the game, for making so many people love it. So, as I sit here, and listen to Bob Uecker and Joe Block call the game (that the Brewers are losing massively), I wish I were talking to him about it. We texted back and forth about the games, we’d listen to them together. I’d ask questions about what I didn’t understand, and he’d gladly explain. Never once did he show any annoyance at a question, no matter how stupid it was. In fact, he seemed to relish them. He loved talking about it.
This is the second opening day he’s missed. And it doesn’t seem to be that much easier for me to deal with.
Right now, he’d be telling me he hates baseball. And I’d laugh at him and tell him he loved it.
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