Running the Race

Yesterday was absolutely amazing.  For those of you who don’t know, the Challenger Little League is a baseball league for kids with disabilities, ages 5-18, that I have been volunteering with since I was 9 and we were asked to play a game against another Challenger team from the Bronx yesterday at Yankee Stadium.  We played the game in left field where they had set up a field for us.  It was absolutely fabulous.  They are tearing down Yankee Stadium this summer and there will be a new stadium for next season so it was really exciting to be there one last time before the ‘House that Ruth Built’ is gone.  (I stole grass and dirt lol).  But yeah, so we got there and the kids were treated like superstars.  We had a crowd of 400, there were reporters and photographers everywhere.  News stations were interviewing the kids.  They had the line up announced and when the kids went up to bat they announced their name and showed their picture on the big jumbotron screen.  It was awesome.  They were treated like the celebrities that they are.  I’ve seen some of these kids grow up on the baseball field and it was so heartwarming to see them go from not wanting to even get on a baseball field to playing in Yankee Stadium.  Every summer since I was 9 I always looked forward to seeing all of my kids again and being a coach.  I’m really going to miss this next summer and it was really hard to say goodbye to everyone.  It’s starting to hit me that I’m going to be missing out on a lot of special things, not only Challenger but seeing my brothers and little cousins grow up, going to AJ’s baseball games, birthdays, etc.   I’m probably going to cry a little from time to time but I think that’s ok.  I know where God wants me and I know that He’ll make it all ok.  Regardless, my kids played the perfect game yesterday.  A lot of dreams came true and a lot of memories were made and that’s what matters.