What If Perfect Isn't the Point? (Monday Moment ep. 909)

With summer winding down and our two oldest boys preparing to leave for college, I could feel the familiar pull of time. The family dinners, random conversations and beautiful chaos of having four teenagers under one roof won't last forever. So, with three boys still home, still available and, somewhat remarkably, still willing to take an adventure with Dad, we did something impractical: We cashed in airline miles, called a friend for help with tickets and booked a last-minute trip to New York City to watch our Cardinals play the Yankees. Total time in New York: less than 14 hours. Flights were delayed. Traffic was brutal. The hotel wasn't ready. The weather was stifling. Lines into the stadium were long. The Cardinals won two of three games that series. Naturally, we attended the one they lost. And as if that weren't painful enough, one of my own children walked out of Yankee Stadium wearing a brand-new Yankees jersey over his Cardinals shirt, sporting a fake New York accent and an enormous smile. By almost every measure, the trip was imperfect. And yet, later that night, after gyros in Midtown, ice cream and a long walk back to the hotel, I realized something: It had been perfect. Let me explain.