Is This Heaven?

I have been waiting to write this post for a long time.  Last year, I wrote about a similar experience on the road to State, and they lost.  

Brady was a Senior, which was painful enough WITHOUT a loss at the State tournament.  But I wrote about Steve and his time as a Mulvane High School bat boy, player, parent, and coach.  

This year, I waited.  Nothing we did last year could be repeated because...it's baseball and we are very superstitious.  

And honestly, I think we can all agree that the bleached hair should never, EVER, happen again.  

So I've been waiting...for this.  

We are a mere six hours and fifty minutes from when Steve, his mighty coaching staff, and the 2026 Mulvane Wildcats TOOK STATE.  

They didn't just win, they fought and clawed their way to the top.  

This is a group of very talented young men.  

This is a group of very intelligent coaches.

This is a group of very dedicated and loving parents, who have become our friends.  

And this is me, pouring out my feelings about what took place today, yesterday, Monday, and every game since the beginning of my relationship with Steve.  

We grew up in the same town.  Our parents went to church together.  Our families knew each other.  We were both Mulvane Wildcats.  But he was a lover of Mulvane Baseball long before he met me.  As you all know, he was the bat boy for the 1986 State Championship Team.  The article that was published yesterday by Taylor Eldridge told the story beautifully.  

We met when he was leaving college and I was just arriving.   From the same small town, but both being in Emporia for us to notice one another is another story.  

The first time I knew I loved Steve was Christmas Eve, 1997.  We went to church together for the 11:00pm Christmas service and when we left each other, I went home and he went to the cemetery to "see his Dad".  At the time, he was 24 years old.  He lost his Dad when he was 19 years old.  I was going home to sleep peacefully until morning and he was going to sit out in the cold to talk to his Dad...at his grave.  My heart broke.  I couldn't even lay down.  I got in my car and went to his duplex and waited.  I waited until he got home because I couldn't STAND the thought of him spending Christmas like that.  I decided at that point, this was love.  This was the kind of love you look for when you are trying to figure out "the one".  Knowing that when someone hurting, hurts you as bad as it hurts them, that is love.  The only thing you want is to take their pain away from them because their happiness suddenly becomes the only thing that matters on the planet...that is love.    

Fast forward to our boys playing high school ball.  All three of our boys got to live through being coached by Dad.  There were many nights when it was pretty quiet at our dinner table.  I tried, to no avail, to get the conversation going.  I sided with the boys when they didn't agree with a coaching decision that was made because they are my boys and no one messes with them.  Not even their Dad.  Many nights we slept in separate rooms because of this sport.  At one point, I was even told that I was the WORST parent he'd ever had in his coaching career.  I had to beg him NOT to resign that night.  Thank goodness he came to his senses and I shut my mouth.  

Each time our boys were chasing a state victory, they fell short.  I thought to myself, WHY can't this just happen for them?  For him?  He has worked so hard.  He loves this sport, this team, this game, more than just about anything!  WHY can't it just happen?  

And then came this season.  Forty years after the last state title for Mulvane High School Baseball.  

I wish I could explain what has transpired today.  It was unlike anything I've ever seen.  The boys played so hard to get to THIS VERY POINT.  They brought talent, skill,  and heart, and it was the perfect mix of what needed to happen for the win.  I always thought it would be really cool to have our boys win a State Championship with Steve.  I wanted it in a way that only I could envision.  I would close my eyes and see them celebrating.  Then God said, 

"Wait...watch this."  

Today, I did see my boys celebrate that win with Steve.  They weren't on the field.  They were lined up, as adult men, cheering him on.  Something that Steve never got the chance to be with his Dad.  An adult man.  Our boys, our young men, were his biggest supporters.  I honestly have no words for this.  

It was an unbelievable scene, that only God could have created.  We were there...all of us...to be part of something that we all deserved and that these boys and this staff made possible.  The parents, the siblings, the coaches, the families, the friends, the alumni, the community, the players.  We were all there to see this through.  

And I realized something.  

That day, in Steve's driveway, when I realized that love was loving someone more than you love yourself, that wanting them to be okay was more important than anything else in the whole world, was just like today.  Knowing that the pure joy that came from this season, this team, and all the moments that led to this very day is more important than anything in the world, because it meant so much to him...that is OUR love.  

The greatest sadness and the greatest joy-being part of those moments and knowing that nothing else mattered than him knowing that we, his family, were in that with him, THAT is love.  That is the love that God intended for us to have for each other.  A love so great that allows us to feel sadness when they are sad and feel joy when they feel joy.  That is love.  

Baseball was nothing to me before him.  Baseball is everything to me because of him.  His happiness, his love for the game, his love for our boys and for all the boys he's coached, brings me the same joy it has brought him.  

Life is funny like that.  Just when you think God has forgotten to write the most beautiful chapter in your book, he picks up his pen.  

One of the last memories Steve has with his Dad was at his own State Tournament when he was a senior.  A year later, he was gone.  This past Monday was the 32nd anniversary of his Dad's death, and they beat Bishop Miege to advance to the next level.  

On the way home tonight, there were two rainbows.  I can't help but think that his Mom and Dad were part of all that transpired today, this season, this coaching career, and this life for Steve.  He also, very conveniently ended up with 109 career wins, as of today.  His Dad's birthday was July 10th, and his Mom's birthday was December 9th.  Another "I don't think that is a coincidence at all" moment.  

I am so thankful that Steve is my husband, that he was their coach, that these players were his players, and that today became something MUCH larger than baseball.  Today became a dream come true for so many of us.  

A well deserved, amazing story, for some of the best people I've ever known.  Each practice, each loss, each "failed attempt" at the State Tournament.  Each coach that has come and gone, each tear that has been shed when baseball "just doesn't go our way".  Every win this season...all led to this day.  

When Steve hugged me after the game, I said to him, is this it?  Could it possibly get better than this?  The boys, their kids, this team, this win?  Could it be better?  We agreed on, not much.  

When he watches Field of Dreams, the end always brings him to tears.  It breaks me every time I see him sad.  There is a line in the movie when John, the Dad, asks the son, "Is this Heaven?"  Then Ray, the son responds with, "No.  This is Iowa."  Today, Heaven was in Kansas.  On a baseball field in Manhattan.  

Today felt like Heaven on Earth.  I think God wants us to have moments like this so we know a fraction of what it will feel like when we are with him.  For now, I feel so thankful to be here, with this man, our family, our friends, and baseball.  

No one wanted to leave the parking lot this evening.  No one wanted this day to end.  Days like this are once in a lifetime and we felt something we've never felt before.  The thrill of victory that was completely by design and 40 years in the making.  

It was pure and amazing and all things good.  It was and forever will be ours.  

To the 2026 Mulvane Wildcat Baseball Team and Staff...Congratulations.  Enjoy this little slice of Heaven.  

*Photo Credits to Kasey McDowell and Greg Proctor.