During opening week, I got three tickets from Saul Katz, one of the owners of the New York Mets. I never met Mr. Katz but he is the major sponsor of the new Katz Women’s Hospital, which is part of Northshore – LIJ.
I got involved with the Katz’ Women’s Hospital after a friend sold me on the concept of having a hospital, geared for women’s needs.
“This is really important,” she said to me.
After my own due diligence, I decided to volunteer. HJMT and I have been helping ever since.
The day of the NY Mets game, I was in New York City so I decided to take the #7 train through Queens to the stadium. Typically, when I go to see the NY Mets, I drive in from Long Island. This was my first experience on the #7 subway. As we approached the stadium, everyone left and I followed.
When I got there, I stood on a very long line to get in. After the security check, I rode the escalator up and as I got off the elevator, I was amazed at how nice the stadium was. This was my first time since the new stadium was built.
I found my seat and met up with my husband and son who were already eating hot dogs and fries.
The weather was perfect. It was warm and had a slight breeze so it wasn’t that hot. (It’s funny how the weather is changing isn’t it? Last year in April, it snowed. Now it’s a heat wave!)
When my husband and son decided to get more food, I told them I would stay at the seat. I sat and watched the game.
“Hilary, is that you?” I heard someone say. I turned around. It was a past employee of HJMT’s.
“So good to see you,” I told her after we hugged hello.
“Looks like you lost 100 pounds,” she said to me. “You look great.”
After we said our goodbyes, I thought, 100 pounds? Did I look that heavy six months ago?
The crowd cheered. I turned to the ball field. The NY Mets were winning and the funny thing was, they didn’t have one hit. They were winning on walks, errors and balks!
When the boys returned, we moved our seats closer to the field. There were more fly balls coming our way then I ever saw. I kept thinking, this is it… I’m going to get hit. But I didn’t.
When the NY Mets lost, we left the stadium and walked outside. Interestingly, the “home run Apple,” was placed outside the stadium and all of the bases remained the same in the parking lot. If you wanted to, you could run the bases and imagine being a NY Mets player during the 1986 world series.
And you know what? That’s just what I did…
