I received an interesting book for my 39th Christmas titled “1000 places to see before you die” and it made me think about my life as I was about to turn 40.  I decided to make a list of the 100 things I wanted to do with my life before I died.  It was places I wanted to see, career goals, personal goals, some silly stuff, some very serious stuff.  It was actually a really great way to reflect on my life and decide what was truly important to me.  I called it THE LIST.  A fairly recent movie called The Bucket List had a similar theme and so now people call these lists Bucket lists but I still call mine THE LIST. Simple and straightforward. I don’t look at the list every day or even once a month but it has remained in my head (and written in my planner) over the past almost 10 years now and every once in a while I look at it and occasionally get to cross things off. I am turning 50 next year and now I feel it’s time to rewrite THE LIST.  There are things that were important to me at 39 that no longer are….and new things to add. There won’t be 100 items any longer as I have crossed off at least 30 and won’t be adding more than 5 or 10 new things. This week I was lucky enough to cross a very important one off the list….going to the World Series.

My husband has always known about this list and has been supportive in helping me cross things off.  When it looked like my beloved Giants might have a chance to go to the World Series he suggested that we go.  I was over the moon with excitement! I grew up in the Bay Area and my family has always been huge fans of the Giants and the 49ers.  We had our chance in the 80s to have several fantastic Superbowls with the 49ers…but the Giants had rarely made it to the World Series and had never won.

My husband did a lot of research online and decided to buy tickets for me as an early Christmas present.  He didn’t want to go so he asked if I had someone else in mind, and without hesitation I said….MY DAD!  My dad was the one who got me into baseball and football as a kid and he has been such a loving supportive father over the years.  It would be a dream to be able to take him!

It felt like I was living a Mastercard commercial.  Hotdogs $4.50.  Garlic Fries $7.00 Foam “Fear the beard” Beard $10.00 Taking my dad to the World Series?  Priceless!

We flew from Portland down to Oakland Wednesday morning. Took BART out to drop luggage with my mom…and then reversed to take it into the city.  The excitement was frizzling in the air as many Giants fans surrounded us…some even had orange sneakers!

We got to the game early enough to eat and stand in a massive line to buy our World Series programs and other goodies.  The prices were out of this world.  A basic t-shirt $40. A hoodie sweatshirt $200. Baseball cap $50. Unreal.  And yet thousands of fans were buying everything in sight!

Watching the massive flag unfurl as our National Anthem was sung gave me goosebumps. And the flyover! And the roar of the crowd as the players were announced! We were given orange pompoms to wave, and wave we did.  Even my dad got into the spirit and waggled his pompom around. The Giants gave us plenty to cheer about.

When Uribe hit his home run in the 6th, the crowd went balistic. All the fans around us high-fived us and screamed and yelled.  I have never seen anything like it. You could not hear yourself screaming.  It was incredible.

We sat in the bleachers behind home plate, 2nd row back.  They were great seats, on the aisle. Great view and easy access.  There was a jokester guy sitting in front of us, who kept getting up and trying to start a WAVE.  Nobody bit and someone yelled, “the wave is so 80s man!” We had a fun couple next to us….she was extremely vocal and extremely funny.

One of my favorite things about the event was seeing all the lights of San Francisco lit up orange. The building in the backdrop had beautiful orange up-lights sparkling. The billboard showed City Hall and many other landmarks around the city with orange spotlights.  It was also fabulous singing along with Tony Bennett to “I left my heart in San Francisco” and “Take me out to the ballgame”, and watching Steve Perry lead us in a rendition of “when the lights go down on the city”.  Magical.

And I saved the best for last.  One of the things I love about the Giants is the quirky personalities of their players.  I loved chanting UUUUU—RIBE with the crowd. I loved all the Panda hats.  And I especially love love love the Fear The Beard theme that was going on.  I do love my quirky. Just ask my family and friends.  So I vowed on Twitter and Facebook to wear a beard.  And here I am!