Thank you Washington Nationals!

Dear Washington Nationals Organization,

I am writing to you today, to tell you all thank you! Thank you for helping me share an experience with my children, that I thought we would never have.  

I should probably explain.

First of all, my husband and I both grew up huge baseball fans. Of course, we each had our own favorite teams that had good seasons and bad. However, just because we had our favorite teams, it didn’t mean we only attended those games. We enjoyed going to professional ball games because . . . well you know, for the love of the game! Whether it was the bleachers at Wrigley, the nose-bleed section of Shea Stadium, or the Dodger dogs in Los Angeles, we went for the fun. The love of baseball was something we shared with our children. Our son played ball for over ten years. My husband would help coach, spending hours playing catch with the children on the team, with our children, and many a weekend afternoon with the neighborhood children. Our youngest was only five days old when she attended her brother’s first t-ball game. My crew has kind of grown up around the little league ball field!

Although we could share the professional baseball experience with our son, (thank you for the Little League events at your stadium), we could only provide the Little League field experience for our middle daughter. You see, almost 11 years ago my daughter had her first allergic reaction to peanuts. Over time her allergy has gotten worse. She has even had contact allergic reactions. She and I both carry medication that can help her in the event of an allergic reaction, and even though we do, we go out of our way to avoid situations where a possible allergic reaction could occur. We have a completely peanut free home, we read ingredients labels for everything, and I will call ahead when we go to a new restaurant. The idea of taking her to a professional baseball game was akin to a living nightmare, filled with stress and anxiety of the highest levels . . . too many peanuts!

This is where you all come in. I found out late last year about the opportunity to sit in a peanut free section at Nationals Park. It sounded a bit too good to be true. So this spring, I checked your web site to see if I could find out more information. I followed your “Contact Us” link on your web site to send you a message to find out more about the peanut free section. Within two hours I had a response from Mike: All of the games that were going to have a peanut free section had already been sold out for the season, but would I like to be contacted if more became available? Absolutely. I received a message from Mike last week, that there was a peanut free section for the game on Labor Day, and there were extra tickets. Would I like to get them? After a discussion with my crew, I said yes.

When Monday rolled around, I have to say, I regretted buying the tickets. There were too many variables, and it suddenly seemed like the risk might be too great. Three children, one adult, and peanuts all over the stadium, except one cleared area. All sorts of what ifs raced through my mind.  Since my husband passed, I have done my best to step out of my comfort zone, and face new situations. This one took an amazing leap of faith in all the things I could not control!

Washington Nationals, you knocked this one out of the park! (Yes, pun fully intended). From my first contact with Mike and getting the tickets to actually attending the game, I could not be more impressed. From the ticket takers who helped direct us to the correct gate, the security people who welcomed us and directed us to our seats, to the folks at the concession stand for water . . . all of them were amazing! They provided great customer service, and went out of their way to help us. Also, a big thank you to the employees we did not see – the ones who cleaned the area for the peanut free section. I’m pretty sure I have never sat on such clean stadium seats! When we arrived at our seats, I took a look around the area, and actually breathed a sigh of relief, as I thought, yes, we could make it through a professional baseball game, and my daughter should be safe. It is not often that a bit of relief happens, and I had to hide tears from my children.

Thank you. Thank you so much for making such an accommodation for families that love the game, but otherwise would not be able to attend. We stayed for the entirety of the game, witnessed two home runs, multiple doubles, and all around a fun baseball game. In addition to the game, my daughter was able to enjoy the singing of the National Anthem, the running of the presidents, and the famous seventh inning stretch. Thank you. Without you all creating a safe space, these things would not have happened.

Seeing as this is the longest thank you note I have ever written, and I am not sure my words have accurately conveyed my appreciation, I will conclude with one more thank you.

Definitely Nationals Fans for Life,

Amy and crew