Farewell, Dad

I plop FA-style onto my seat on the front row of our plane to Chicago. Billy and Gabe sit near the window to my left. I breathe out slowly as the plane rumbles down the runway and elevates into the land of clouds – no Wifi and no distractions. I close my eyes gently with the clouds now on our level, and the lyrics from my dad’s song “Sing For You” echo through my head.

“So when you want adventure, I’ll be first in line. We’ll find the place where sunrise meets the sky.”

It was an adventure that my dad was first in line for, but his best friend Billy Holbrook and his son Gabe helped carry on what he was not able to. Ever since my junior year of college, my dad and I talked about starting to chase down my #1 bucket list item of visiting all 30 MLB stadiums once I graduated from Auburn. Like I wrote in my post “Chop On,” my dad was my favorite person to go to a baseball game with. Our plans were interrupted when he passed in June 2022.

Ever since, Billy has become an even closer friend of mine. He started teaching me guitar, he has gone bike riding with me, we’ve shared many great meals and conversations, and the Holbrook family even attended their first rideATAXIA with me in March. Nothing can replace my dad or make up for his loss, but what a gift they have been. Their family is like family to mine. Billy is my dad’s best friend, but now he’s one of my best friends, biggest supporters, mentors and role models – one title sums it up: “Coach Holbrook.”

They even attended my graduation from Auburn. At my grad party that night, Billy presented me with a graphic that told me my graduation gift: a roadtrip to any MLB stadium east of the Mississippi River. He was going to help fulfill the plans that my dad had made with me.

We immediately started searching. I’d only been to four MLB stadiums, so we had a lot to choose from and a lot to conquer. We knew a city with multiple parks in it or two nearby each other would be great – kill two birds with one stone. Still, we had options: Baltimore/D.C.? New York? The Braves’ opening day was in Philadelphia, within spitting distance of the Pittsburgh Pirates, but one of the few stadiums I’d already visited was Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Then, there’s Chicago with the White Sox and Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs. The Braves also played the White Sox after the Phillies to start the season. See a beautiful city, historic ballpark and watch the Braves play a crappy team? Bingo!

So Chi-Town it was, and it just so turns out that it was all on the week of the Holbrooks’ spring break! That meant Billy’s oldest son, Gabe, got to come along. Gabe and I go way back. As the top picture says, I was at the hospital leading up to his birth. With our families being such great friends, and with our families both being parts of a house church for several years starting in 2009, Gabe and I got to be best buds. I was always good with younger kids back then, and I helped teach and play with the kids during the services. We always had the best time, and Gabe was a great kid. I wasn’t in touch with Gabe for a long time after that, but lately he’s hung out with me and Billy quite a few times. I am so thankful that he was with us in Chicago, and we really got to catch up and I got to give him some guy-to-guy advice and share some great laughs, just like the good ol’ days.

Turns out, Gabe is an even better guy now. He was the most kind helper I know of – always willing to offer a helping hand, and he never treated me any different because of my physical differences. He was always going ahead of us to get the doors, pick up my phone off the ground or help get my wheelchair out of the cracks and crevices of the Chicago street (Somehow, he and Billy kept me from falling face-first onto the street the entire trip). He reminds me of my younger cousin, Drew; just a complete servant’s heart. And he’s 16. Gabe is an awesome guy, and I’m so glad we got to reconnect. We had plenty of opportunities to over the week.

After much anticipation, Billy’s wife Megan drove us to the Atlanta airport on Tuesday, April 2. We landed in Chicago after a 1 1/2-hour plane ride and immediately went to get deep dish pizza at Pizzeria Uno’s (just okay, 7.5/10). On Wednesday, we fought the rain and snow flurries to the subway which took us to Guaranteed Rate Field for Braves vs. White Sox. We got in the stadium, pulled up to our row, and over the loudspeaker we heard: “The game has been postponed to June 27 due to inclement weather.” So, we scarfed down hot dogs, got free swag from a sales guy who hooked us up with free tickets (Antonio, you the man), and hit the subway again. We rolled with the punches and made it a great day, but we did not see my Braves play.

Even through the disappointment, my dad’s words uplifted my heart. “Even here, even here, I will sing for you.”

We recuperated with warm food and drinks at Goddess and the Baker’s coffee shop on our walk back, and while sipping coffee and scrolling through my phone, my dad’s words lifted my spirits and we still had a “dinger” of a day. We went up the nation’s fastest elevator in the observatory for some great views, hit Jake Melnick’s for some Chicago-style wings (everything is Chicago-style, just go with it), picked out some drip at the Cubs team store downtown, and wandered the city and took some great pictures and what not.

On our non-baseball day on Thursday, we took a tour down the Chicago River, grubbed at Potbelly’s sandwich shop (9/10!), visited the Shedd Aquarium, marveled up the five-level Starbucks Coffee Roastery and finished with dinner at Portillo’s (9.2/10! chocolate cake shake was to die for). One of the things we laughed at the hardest on the trip was a phrase my peanut of a brain came up with: “Welcome to Portillo’s” with a nice Italian hand gesture. It’s not even an Italian restaurant.

Of course, we made friends everywhere we went due to Billy’s never-met-a-stranger personality. All the Chicago locals loved us and treated us with such kindness. Even ancient buildings constructed over a century ago accommodated us perfectly because where we had a need, their employees and citizens had a response. They knew what they were doing, and they did it happily. Shoutout our main guy Jeff who went out of his way to take us an accessible way to our boat tour, you’re a dude.

That kind of hospitality leads me to our last day of the trip in Wrigleyville. I was nervous about going there and navigating the park. I’m used to Truist Park in Atlanta, built in 2017, which has all the modern amenities and accommodation. I wasn’t so sure about a park built in 1914, but “The Friendly Confines” lived up to its name. I was put at ease from the start by a stair lift with a smiling employee standing ready to operate it at all times. When we got to out seats, which were marked off with a line rope thing, they yelled “everyone out! Clear the way!” so that people in China could hear. We were on field level behind the plate, but I think our accessible row was up one staircase, and it was a great spot for a selfie. I bet the employees scared a fan or two out of a selfie. They covered all the basic accommodations and even took us on a walk around the park and let me take a picture with the 2016 Cubs World Series ring.

They also gave me extra jackets to stave off the cold, because as you can tell from my jacket over my front (always pulled low enough to see Braves) and my hand warmer in my lap, it felt nothing like sweet ‘ol Alabama. It was COLD. We even met more friends in the warm First Aid room twice throughout the game. Were we hurt? No, just some Alabamar fans freezing in the 40-degree weather. Okay, to be fair, we were in the shade and the Windy City is legit. Even my hand warmer said “Nah, I quit.” But the employees were attentive to the degree that they brought us hot chocolate.

Besides the unbeatable views and hot dogs, the Cubs and Dodgers put on a SHOW in a possible NLDS preview. Former Braves players Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson went to battle, and I was there for it.

The Mickey Mouse 2020 World Champion Dodgers and MLB’s sweetheart, Shohei Ohtani, by all means expected a dub, but the Cubbies spoiled their day and that series. Swanson started the party with a DANSBOMB and the Cubs staved off a Dodger comeback for a 9-7 win. Cubs employees, fans and the entire city do baseball so right. New 2nd-favorite team (sorry Rays, you can have third).

Despite the cold, we couldn’t have asked for a better, more spirit-lifting end to the trip. We didn’t let the cancellation of the Braves game hold us down at all. What an adventure it was, and we did it all with your words and your presence in our hearts, Dad. So as I plopped back down on the plane to go back to Atlanta, I meditated on the rest of that song. I closed my eyes and the plane went silent.

“And when we felt the pleasure, done all that we can do, we’ll seize the day the world is made brand new. Even here, even here, I will sing with you.”