Why Can't Us?

The Phillies have won the World Series.

Think about that for a moment. The Phillies have won the Series. This is not something that happens every year. They have won a grand total of two of them now since they came into the National League in 1883. The first one took 97 years, during which a few notable events happened:

The Spanish American War. WWI. WWII. The Korean War. The Vietnam War.
The inventions of the automobile, the airplane, the radio, the television, the record player, and the atomic bomb.
The discoveries of antibiotics, neutrons, and Pluto.

So it was an eventful time. In the 28 years since 1980, the world has been similarly exciting, but not for the Phillies. This year, though, it was different. This year they managed to win it all.

I watched them win it this time, just as I watched them win it last time. They won the same way, with their best reliever throwing strike three for the final out. Tabitha and Lauren did not have school the next day due to, well, something that the school board decided was important enough to close the schools (it still isn't clear to me what), so we let them stay up and bask in it. Tabitha is old enough to follow it a bit, and she's been asking me for updates after every game since most of the games have ended well past any reasonable definition of her bedtime or, in one case, mine (though I admit I did see the end of that one anyway). Lauren just absorbs it all.

But there we were, in the living room, celebrating. I did not expect the Phillies to do it, did not really think they would. It's really sweet to be wrong sometimes.

"Why can't us?" indeed.