With apologies to both Casey, and Ernest Lawrence Thayer…..

Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,  

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;      

And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,    

But there is no joy at Wrigley— the Cubs are done and out.

I will remember October 2015 as the time our family bonded over baseball.

Our family has always had it’s baseball fans. Growing up, in Illinois most of my friends were White Sox, or Cubs fans. But there were also lots of us Cardinal fans. My dad and mom were die hard Cardinal fans, and it ended up that my sisters and I became Cardinal fans. I remember walking around the north side of Ottawa in October ’67 taking Christmas wreath orders. I had a transistor radio glued to my ear listening to Bob Gibson and the Cards beating Boston to win the World Series…

The years passed and the Cardinals won a few more World Series. My White Sox buddies were happy when they won theirs as well. And the Cubbies? Well, there was always next year….and the next….and the next. My sisters both got married and had children, but something went wrong, and low and behold, several of my nieces became Cubs fans. The years went on, and of course there was always a bit of trash talking back and forth on particular Cubs-Cards series.

Fast forward to this year, and the playoffs. The Cards and Cubs, with two of the best records in baseball, were meeting for the first time ever in the playoffs. Emails, texts, phone calls and Facebook comments go back and forth before the series until someone comes up with the brilliant idea to lay down a bet – losers have to wear the winners jerseys at a Christmas get together this year. Everyone quickly agrees and the playoffs start.

Of course, we all know that the Cubs won the series, 3 games to 1 (ouch!). But what I also remember is the great back and forth we had as a family during the series. With most of the family back in Illinois, and us in DC, this largely took place with texts and Facebook….a few hundred texts (!) and several FB posts. One night I was out to dinner with a friend and my phone kept buzzing. I ignored it until he finally said “don’t you have to get that?” I answered, “no, I’ll check later – my guess is the Cubs just scored….”. It turns out the Cubs did score, won that game, and then won the next one to clinch the series. Lot’s of good natured trash talking from our nieces and brother-in-law, a few lame comebacks from me and my sisters. Since then, the Cubs lost in 4 straight to the Mets (I warned you guys), and we now all remember that Back to the Future was just a movie, and not a prediction.

Cath and I are going home for Christmas this year. I’m looking forward to seeing family, eating and drinking to much, and even to wearing a Cubs jersey one night. I’m sure there will be pictures taken, and at least one of them will be suitable for framing.

I can’t wait for next year….

_____________________

Postscript: Here’s a photo of my sisters and I at the Christmas get-together…