Minnesota Twins, Peanuts, & Memories

By: Michelle Remold

Today my family and I went to the Minnesota Twins vs. the Chicago White Sox baseball game. This has been something we have done for as long as I can remember. When we don’t go to Twins games, we will watch them together. Twins games were also the one thing we were able to bond over with my grandpa, even as his Alzheimer’s progressed.

During baseball season, my grandpa would sit and watch baseball games. The people who worked at the nursing home said that as soon as he heard anything baseball related on TV, he would come out of his room to watch. I remember watching a game with him when he yelled ‘Home run!’ This wouldn’t be impressive, except that he had lost much of his verbal skills at that point.

Today was a wonderful day to be at a baseball game and for being almost August in Minnesota, there wasn’t any humidity. To make the day even better, the Twins won. When we left, we decided to walk around Target Field before heading home. As we turned a corner, I noticed that there were status of the Charles M. Schultz Peanuts characters dressed in Twins apparel. I was excited to start because I am a fan of Peanuts. As we got about half way down the line of statues, I noticed there was a statue of Marcie.

I have written before about how my grandpa always called me ‘Marcie’ when I was little and that as he lost his ability to communicate, ‘Marcie’ gradually turned into ‘Mushy.’ I asked him once why he always called me ‘Marcie’ and he had said that it was based on the Marcie from the Peanuts comics. When I saw the statue of Marcie, I was drawn to it. We had stopped at each statue to take pictures, rotating between my parents and my brother being in the pictures with me. When my mom asked if I wanted a picture taken, I said I did but that I wanted to be of just me, there was something special about this statue.

It never ceases to amaze me what will remind me of my grandpa. It is things like this that make me smile, relive memories, and remember the important role my grandpa played in my career path.

Michelle graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with her Bachelor of Arts in Gerontology: Social Sciences and a minor in Family Studies. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Aging Studies and Nursing Home Administration from Minnesota State University Mankato.