St. Louis - Just Chillin in the Cardinals Dugout

You never know when you are making a memory.

What do you do when 4 Mom's are left in the St. Louis Cardinals Dugout, while your children (boys) and Husbands are having a leisurely tour of the St. Louis Cardinals Clubhouse.

I will let you know what I did.

I made friends with Mike, from FOX news (on the left) and the Security Guard, who is so timid, that I wouldn't think of hiring him to protect me:) Mike was very interesting telling me some amazing stories of his profession but one thing he cannot do is get an autograph from any player. In 1999 he was face to face with Mark McGwire, interviewing him and he has some amazing pictures but he could not ask for an autograph and that also goes for when he is out in public.

You ask the security guard if you can go down a few steps to take a picture of where the players get their batting helmets and bats from before they go up to hit. Cool huh?? When I asked if I could do this he just looked at me so I took that for a yes:)

Yadier Molina's Batting Helmet. He is the catcher for the Cardinals and one of Luke's favorite players. You never know when you might need a photo, like this, for a scrapbook:)

Now it seemed like we had been in the dugout FOREVER, when Skip Schumaker happened to come in and take a seat. So again what am I supposed to do....Well, I went up and said "I apologize for us women being in your dugout but were stranded because our husbands and boys are in your Clubhouse and we had to stay up here" So, I continue on asking him where he plays, how long he's been with the Cardinals, he said some wonderful things about Cal Eldred, showed him the little scrapbook I made because he asked why we were there, then I suggested a picture of the wives with him. Before that I asked for an autograph on my baseball and as we were wrapping up he said "what about the picture"

Tammy, Skip and Denise and Danielle is seated below.

Here is me with Skip. Now I have to watch the Cardinals whenever possible because now I can put a face to it and it is so much more personal. Plus I told Skip that we will cheer him on, and keep in our prayers to stay healthy.

One other thing I did was I saw Albert Pujols coming in from warming up, and I look at Skip and said "I am going to get his autograph" like I was looking for reassurance because Albert Pujols looks very intimidating and not very approachable. Skip said "go for it" I wasn't going to leave that ballpark without his autograph, just in case the boys didn't get it. Isn't that what a Mom is supposed to do:) So, I go over as he is coming down the steps and I said "Mr. Pujols could I please have you sign this ball?" He did and I said thank you and he was on his way. I was very nervous.

Memories are like keepsakes...always to be treasured.

Brendan Ryan

Here is a funny story or at least one that us Mom's can appreciate. I cannot tell you how many times Luke will come up to me and say "Mom I can't find my glove". So, as we were hanging out in the dugout Brendan Ryan comes out looking for his glove because he couldn't find it. We, us Mom's, were excited that even in the Majors the boys still lose track of their gloves:)

"Before they can be men, they must be boys."