WASHINGTON — Kate Abbott and her husband, Patrick are huge Washington Nationals fans. They’ve been partial season ticket holders for four years, but this season was different.
Patrick was deployed for six months to Afghanistan as a Department of Defense civilian geographer. Kate found a creative way to make sure that Patrick still felt like he was here.
"When we found out that Patrick would be leaving for Afghanistan, I decided that I wanted to take people to the games," a determined Kate said.
She didn't want to sell her tickets or relinquish the love she had for going to the games with her husband, so she had to get creative.
"I wanted to honor him, to honor us a couple...and to strengthen friendships, because that is so needed and so vital in a deployment," Kate said.
This wasn't Patrick's first deployment (it's his third), but it was the first time Kate tried a new way of communicating with him. She started sending video messages, not just from her, but from friends that she would bring to the games in his stead.
"At the 7th inning stretch, I let everyone know that if they feel comfortable, I would love to record a video of them just sharing a brief message to Patrick," Kate said.
In those messages, Patrick would see friends he's known for years, and meet new friends that Kate made while he was abroad.
"They talk about their life, they talk about the game," Kate said. "They talk about thing they want to do when he gets back."
"Hi! We miss you. Yeah stay in the fight there, we’ll stay in the fight here," one video, from a pair or poncho-clad friends, said.
"Hey Patrick, it’s Ralph Day. Sitting here with your lovely wife, having a great day at the ball park. Sure wish you were here. We're praying for you," a video from a Veteran said.
Kate explained that the messages,"let Patrick know that life goes on."
"That's important for people who are deployed," Kate said. "They need to know that their loved ones aren’t pining away necessarily for them, that they’re actually living their life. And that gives them comfort."
But there were times when having even the best of friends sitting next to her couldn’t bring that comfort. Like on their eighth wedding anniversary, when Kate sent her own emotional video to Patrick from the game, singing her rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
On Sunday, after six months of waiting and filling his seat with loved ones, Kate made her way to the airport to finally bring Patrick home -- just in time for Game 5 of the Nats' first World Series appearance.
"Today is going to be epic," Kate beamed. "It is going to be amazing. There are going to be tears. I am glad that he is home and that he is safe."
On a very rainy day, wearing a red dress, a bright smile and the lipstick that she wore on her wedding day, Kate drove to Dulles Airport to see her man.
Looking at the arrivals door, as other passengers are reunited with their loved ones, Kate started tearing up. Patrick's Nats jersey clenched tightly in her hands.
Then finally, after what seems like much longer than the five or so minutes that they were, Kate's eyes light up. Patrick, topped with a military camouflage cap and a bag on his back, strides up to his wife with his arms wide open.
They melt into each other as Kate exclaims: "We did it. We did it."
The videos helped them get through the months apart, but there's nothing like being held in the arms of your partner, and knowing they're not leaving anytime soon.
"When you’re alone, morale just plummets," Patrick confessed. "You worry about the other partner. [Those videos are like a] quick touch from home. It’s the 'I love you' that goes through time and space half way around the world."
When Kate and Patrick got back to their apartment, just blocks away from Nats' Park, Kate couldn't keep her eyes off of Patrick.
"I love his dimples," Kate said. "His dimples are one of the best things about him." To which Patrick wittily replied, "she’s looking at me the same way I looked at the bed when I got home."
"People think when you get home, you think of what restaurant you want to go to, a vacation spot you want to go to, but so many people deployed are like I just want my bed with a family member," Patrick explained with Kate snuggled next to him on the couch.
Patrick had a nearly 24-hour trip back home from Afghanistan, so it's understandable that a nap was in order. Three hours later, Patrick, feeling like he got a second wind, put his Nats jersey back on, took his wife's hand and made his way to the biggest game of the season.
"This is just so amazing," Patrick smiled.
This is the moment that Kate has been dreaming about.
"I have been planning this moment since August," Kate said. "I actually started singing songs [via video message] to Patrick [while he was away]. I would always sing the 7th inning stretch songs, including "Take on Me" and "Take me Out to the Ballgame."
But instead of sticking to the original lyrics she would insert words about him coming back for the World Series.
"Take me out to the ball game...with my husband...for Game 5 of the World Series," Kate remembered. "And now here he is."
Little did Kate know, the day Patrick received the first video message from a friend who attended the game with Kate, there was an incident on base that shook the soldiers and civilians. Getting a message from Kate's good friend Annie after the game, made Patrick feel that Kate was safe and taken care of.
"It was very comforting," Patrick said.
"It was through that experience that I realized that we’re going to have to have a homecoming for all of the people I brought to the games, and all of the people that Patrick never met that I have now gained as new friends, and new support systems for us going forward in life," Kate said. "And it’s just so beautiful."