Take Me Out to the Ballgame

In case you haven't heard the news, peanut-free baseball is coming to Wrigley tomorrow night!
Here's a link to the Sun-Times article about it: http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2630402,CST-NWS-nopeanuts24.article

This is thanks in large part to some key organizers and a facebook fan page called "Chicago Cubs Fans for Peanut Free Baseball." (My only part in any of this was to become a "fan" of that Facebook page, which you can, too, with only one little mouse click.)

The Cubs organization listened and agreed to make one section peanut-free for one night game this year. I think people are hopeful that this event will be a success and will grow from there. Peanut free sections, or even peanut-free stadiums are things other major league baseball clubs have done, but this event is a first for the Cubs.

So, a few personal thoughts about all of this:
--I don't think Georgia's allergies are so bad that she would be sensitive to sitting in a regular section at the stadium (i.e., that she'd react to airborne peanut dust). That said, she's never been to a ballgame or any place with such an abundance of peanuts, so I don't really know.
--Even if she could handle a regular section, I'd love to take her to a peanut-free game/section like this someday. It's a great way to show support for families of children who definitely do have allergic reactions without peanut-free zones. Also, it would be a great way to meet other kids dealing with food allergies, which is such an important thing for children. Everyone just wants to feel normal, ya know?
--With a little more advance notice, and had this been a day game, I would've tried to get tickets. But being that Georgia just turned 3, this is a night game, and she's got preschool the next morning (which she just started), attending this game won't be possible for us. Hopefully there will be a "next time" so that we can try to go next year.
--On that note, I foolishly had this fear that many people would be in the same boat as us and that there wouldn't be a good enough turnout for the Cubs to want to do this again next year. Silly me. Turns out the 8/30 Peanut Free box is sold out, with over 75 families on a waiting list! The Facebook page says to email fanservicesassistant@cubs.com if you are interested in attending a future game.

I'll end this with a little anecdote. Somewhere along the way, singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" became part of Georgia's bedtime ritual. We've probably sung it every night for more than a year now. Of course there is the line, "buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack." But in our house, this is always followed by a quickly interjected, "but don't eat 'em!" Georgia probably thinks that's part of the real song. Ha! (Sounds so dorky, I know, and if you are not accustomed to having to teach your child allergy awareness all the time, you're probably rolling your eyes. But when you're trying to teach a consistent message to a very young child just beginning to grasp her own allergies, this is the type of goofy thing you end up doing, I guess!)