Celestial Love (Anthony Rizzo)

.44. New Favorite

Celeste

While we were out in Seattle my mom invited Anthony and I to come speak to her fourth grade class as some kind of holiday treat. With Anthony being Anthony he was all over it. He loved kids and with it being pretty close to Christmas it was a nice little present. Anthony gave my mom some cub stuff before she came home for her to put up in her classroom so the kids know about the Cubs and Anthony. Though the Mariners are Seattle's team Anthony won a championship two years ago so he was well known everywhere including here.

I was just happy to tag along and see the kids.

"Alrighty class settle down! 1-2-3 eyes on me" my mom calls out to the room.

"1-2 eyes on you" the class calls back as they settle down in their seats. Anthony and I stand at the front just trying to take in being in a grade school class again. It was kind of weird because everything seemed so much bigger last time we were in a room like this. 

"Thank you students. Now as you guys know my daughter Celeste is in town with her..." she trails off as she looks between me and Anthony. "-Anthony" she finishes as I roll my eyes. "They're here from Chicago and they both agreed to come talk to you. So who has questions?"

About every single kids hand shoots up and I laugh a little. Kids are naturally curious and I love that about them.

"Okay let's start with Jack down in the front" my mom says and all the other kids let out a groan.

"My questjon is for Celeste" he says and my eyes go big. I figured Anthony would be getting the questions so one for me right out of the gate was surprising. "Was your mom your teacher" he asks and I laugh a little.

"She actually wasn't. I am not sure we would have such a good relationship if she was" I tease.

"Is it because you would be mad at her if she gave you a bad grade" Jack asks and I giggle.

"No. It's because just because something makes sense, doesn't mean it will work out. In my life here everything made sense and in the end... it didn't work out like I thought it would. But that's okay, everything that happens is for a reason. So my mom not being my teacher worked out for the best" I insist.

"Alright, next question! Kelsey you can go" my mom encourages.

"My question is for Anthony. Do you have a girlfriend" she asks and I laugh. You have to laugh.

Anthony doesn't answer right away as he glances at me. If he made it any more obvious he would have had to kiss me right there. "I have a love. A strong and sometimes scary but always incredible kind of love. And that love is everything you guys see in your Disney movies and more. We haven't gotten to the happily ever after yet l,'but it won't rain forever" he says.

"Is it Celeste" she calls him out for being so painfully obvious.

"Yeah, it is" he assures her.

"So she's not single either" she questions as a laugh a little.

"Not technically no" he smiles.

"Alright, let's get another question before Anthony doesn't want to come back" my mom jokes. "Luther you can go."

"Is playing baseball hard" he asks Anthony.

"My theory is that if you do what you love you'll never work a day in my life. There's times where it's hard, I don't play well and I'm not all that excited to go play. But my love for this game never waivers, so to me it's not hard at all. Workouts, games, a difficult schedule. There's moments it sucks. But I wouldn't say it's hard" he explains.

We answer a few more questions before it was time for recess. So we go outside and play a little before going to lunch. I push a little girl on a swing as I listen to her infectious laughter. This isn't helping me stay away from the baby fever. Once I start to get tired of pushing she invited me to join her on the open swing next to her.

"What's your favorite color" she asks as I sit down.

"I like light blue" I admit. "What about you?"

"I like pink. But I'm not committed to it" she shrugs making me smile.

"Pink is a pretty color. But the best thing about us is that we change. We learn things that change our opinions and that's okay. When I was your age my favorite color was red" I admit.

"How do you know when something will forever be your favorite color" she wonders.

"That's the beauty of this life. I wish I knew at your age that I didn't have to like certain things. Or if I did it was okay to not like them after a while. Just because you're a girl doesn't mean you have to like the color pink or wearing dresses. Your favorite color can be brown and you can play with cars and be just as beautiful. Your interests are what make you you, and the moment you believe you can't like something that you do like is the moment you stop being yourself. And I think you're awesome no matter what" I assure her.

"Well if that's true I really like the color black. It's actually my favorite" she claims and I smile.

"And that makes you unique. And I love that about you" I admit.

She just smiles up a me and it made me smile too. My mom works with this age kids for this exact reason.

"You are a lot like your mom. But you're a little prettier" she claims and I laugh. I'm definitely telling her this story during dinner.

"My mother is one of my favorite people in the world. I know I said I'm happy she was never my teacher but I'm kind of jealous of your whole class. I know none of my teachers would care about me in the way my mom cares about you" I admit.

"She's kind of like a second mom to me" the little girl says.

"Then I guess that makes you like my sister. I never had a sister before" I say.

"Me neither. I have two brothers but you smell a lot better than them" she assures me. I was complimented but the bar really couldn't be lower.

"Well thank you" I giggle.

After recess they go eat and Anthony orders us a pizza to share during the break. The classroom that was full of giggling kids was now silent as I just look around.

"I'm really happy you guys could come today. The kids loved you" my mom insists.

"You're doing miracles out here" I admit.

"I just act like they're all you and teach them what I would want you to know at this age. Even if you didn't want me as your teacher" she smiles.

"You couldn't handle me as a student and your kid" I assure her.

"We defiantly would have been a sight to see" she agrees.