When the Astros WON THE WORLD SERIES, our city went crazy with joy and relief. Thanks to Hurricane Harvey, the past two months had been about loss in our city. After so many days of only soggy carpet and demolished homes, Houston now had trophies and homeruns. We were ready to party.
So, we did what people always do when the monumental, the emotional, the historical happens. We sought out our oldest and deepest relationships. We found our people. We celebrated with our families.
During the World Series, my social media feeds filled with different family’s unique celebrations. Some parents rushed to Academy to stand in line for the first t-shirts. In other families, brothers across the country from each other called to reminisce. They talked about how, as kids, they had played catch in front of the Astros’ games and dreamed of becoming the next Jose Cruz. Other families went to great lengths to watch the series together, hugging and sloshing beer after each homerun. Other families pulled out photo albums to find pictures of generations-past grinning in the Astrodome.
Some families blew whole vacation budgets on tickets to the Series. Early on the morning of the Astros’ victory parade, three sisters we know claimed their space downtown long before the players were even awake from sleeping off their hangovers.
As for our family, we bought shirts. We yelled at the tv together. We ate orange-frosted Astros treats. And we’ve played lots of games of family baseball. (Kids can only watch so many hours of catching pop flies before they want to try it themselves.) My parents told stories about Astros games when I was little (our favorite: Dad and I saw Nolan Ryan and got his autograph.).
The ways you celebrate with your family are as unique as your eye color and your last name. The way your family celebrates Christmas Eve, milestone birthdays, promotions, and World Series wins say a lot about your family’s culture.
And so, what about you, Houston families? How did you celebrate the Astros’ win?