For many people, dreaming or envisioning the attainment of a goal is a lifetime process. It can take many forms, from the mass accumulation of wealth and knowledge to becoming worldly famous. It can be finding the ideal soulmate or traveling to distant and faraway places.
It may take months or even years to achieve such goals, if at all, but the eventual realization and completion of a dream leaves nothing short of pure bliss, satisfaction and a feeling of worthiness and a genuinely good emotion about life.
One of my lifelong dreams was to visit and attend a baseball game at one of the world’s most famous sports parks, Yankee Stadium. An avid and lifelong Yankees fan, I had watched numerous games on television, always gaining glimpses of the stadium in the process. I listened to a few games on the radio.
But to actually attend a game and to see the action up close and personal someday was certainly on my to-do list.
Unfortunately at that time, I didn’t have the financial or transportational means to do such. Plus there were so many other things going on in my life that my dream had to be put on the back burner. That, coupled with the exceedingly high price of attending a Major League Baseball game, made my dream suddenly turn into an illusion.
That is, until one day when I was reading the newspaper and came across a touring agency offering trips to the stadium. Sure there were other agencies that offered the same, but some were a little higher in cost than others, and I was a little more familiar with the agency I eventually chose to sign up with. I filled out the form for a late April 2005 game and crossed my fingers, hoping that it would not be cancelled.
On the day of the game, I was very excited. I have been to New York City several times before, and I have seen many professional baseball games before – the Rochester Red Wings at Frontier Field, for example, but to see a game of major league attitude, in a part of New York City that will always be treasured, especially for Yankee and baseball fans, was the manifestation of a dream come true.
At last, I arrived. The ballpark was as impressive on the outside as I had seen on television. Inside, it was even more grandiose. I took tons of pictures of the various plaques, retired numbers and memorabilia, as well as the scoreboard and the various parts of the ballpark.
And despite the cold, rainy, windy weather and that the Yankees lost big to the Texas Rangers 10-2, I had a very good time. I even attended one more Yankee game in the year, only this time the weather was much nicer, and the Yankees, despite losing, only lost 8-7 – much better.
I hope to attend many more games in the future. But the mere thought of attending my very first one will reign in my heart and mind forever.
The moral of the story is that you should never give up on your dream. It may seem distant and far away for the moment, but it is eventually gratifying for the faithful at heart.
Jackson can be reached atjjackson@campustimes.org.
