Took him out to the ballgame

Very soon after we got here, Elizabeth and I went to a Twins game. Well, Robert has been dying to go to one ever since, and last night we finally had the chance.

It was a great night to take a 6-year-old boy to the game. The fan activities outside the Metrodome were right up his alley -- he got to get his blood pumping on the moon bounce and throw baseballs at a catcher's mitt target. We'd got too late of a start to ride the train to the game but he still got to watch some go by.

He had gotten a brand-new Justin Morneau shirt for the occasion, with the birthday money his aunt and uncle sent him back in June.

The stadium was packed, boisterous and excited and the game matched it. The Twins fell behind 6-1 but rallied to tie it in the eighth and win it in the 10th, sweeping a three-game series from the White Sox.

As we filed out of the stadium, fans were chanting Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!

Robert didn't understand most of it but he knew we were having a good time. And even though his cough nearly overtook him around the eighth inning, he made it through the whole game. And he never once asked when we were going home. He didn't ask for every food item that came down the aisle. And we took care of each other just fine.

It was the kind of game I'd hope a 6-year-old could remember deep into adulthood. I remember my first game as an extra-inning game between the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles at Memorial Stadium in 1979, at the same age. This isn't Robert's first game -- not even his first this year -- but it's clearly the most memorable. Heck, I think it may be the most memorable baseball game I've ever been to. And I've been to a few, including playoff games.

Plus we met an interesting couple next to us -- they both used to work for Gannett (USA Today's parent company) and attended a D-III school. He's still a journalist and she is a singer.

There aren't that many degrees of separation around here! Minneapolis has a real small-town character every so often.