The Power of the Panda

Last Wednesday our family went to see the Giants play the Houston Astros. One of the great things about the game was third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who is nicknamed Kung-Fu Panda. The kids loved watching Panda, one of the Giants great players, in the field and at bat.

Sandoval was tagged with the nickname last year because of his portly build and his uncanny ability to do heroic things on the baseball field. I believe the nickname was created by Barry Zito after Sandoval did the unthinkable when he hurdled a catcher and scored a run.

I thought our Panda adventure was over when we left the ballpark, but I was wrong.

After checking into a hotel, we drove to a local shopping center where Brandy and I ate at Chipolte and the children and their grandmother ate at -- of all places -- Panda Express. I didn't think anything about "the power of the panda" until 4-year-old Emma had an accident in the restaurant.

She was sitting in a chair at a cafe table as high as a large bar stool. I don't know exactly what happened but I heard a noise and looked back in time to see Emma fall headfirst from her perch. Luckily, her ankle caught in the chair and suspended her briefly in the air before she rolled onto the floor.

The shock on the incident frightened her and she cried, although beyond wounded pride she was not hurt.

Because we are experienced parents and Emma is our fourth child, after a while we left her crying with her grandmother and went to Chipoltle, which was two doors down. Before we finished eating, Faye and the children finished and joined up with us again. Emma was holding a stuffed panda bear and smiling and laughing. A man who looked old enough to be a grandparent entered the store as she fell. He had compassion on her, so he purchased the bear for her.

I did not know until then that the panda had special healing properties.

The next day we were in the Galleria Mall in Houston. The girls went inside a girly store and Rebekah emerged with panda earrings. I wish I could say that the earrings made it so Rebekah wanted nothing else at the mall but the powers of the panda are limited.

I was reminded of this even today when I heard that Sandoval grounded into two double plays.

Skadoosh!