It was through a social networking site that I was made aware of this event and the guest post about it.
A friend from high school (now that was a while ago) ‘shared’ the post (which was about an event her own daughter participated in), and I smiled through each and every word.
As a person who works with students in both Special Needs and Learning Assistance, and as a believer that we are all given life for a reason, I am drawn to stories of those who struggle with life, due to disabilities and disorders. I am also drawn to stories of predictions of what a particular child might accomplish in life, verses the abilities that they actually can accomplish.
Such is the case in the story that Pascale LeBrasseur has told on her blog Lessons From My Daughter. I encourage you to not just read what I have shared here from her post, but also check out her story, alluded to in this post, in her pilgrimage to provide the best life she can for her daughter, Emily.
For those who do not work with students, children, and adults who have challenges, know that what they want is what we all want … to be known (acquaintances), to be cared for (family) and to be liked (friendship).
“Yesterday afternoon was magical!
It was magical for Emily, for her team mates from the Field of Dreams, for all the parents standing there and taking pictures and making videos, for the volunteers, for the Hub City Brewers and for the Blue Jays organization and former players!
Yesterday was something money can’t buy for our kids with various ability levels.
Look at this video of Emily!
If you are new to my blog, you are probably thinking that Emily is a pretty poor baseball player.
That’s ok! I get it….
The guy pitching was close to her, he pretty much gave her the ball before she kinda ran to first base…
Allow me to help you see the magic in that short video.
Emily was diagnosed with Cri du chat syndrome in October 1999 when she was 15 months old.
At the time, we were told (amongst other things) that she would never walk, understand us, recognize us, communicate with us, her brain & body would never function properly.
Now… remember that video!
She is exactly where she needs to be, standing on her own, swinging that bat around to warm-up, keeping her eyes on the pitcher and on the ball. Her eyes are telling her brain that the ball is coming and her brain is telling her arms and hands to move at the exact time required to hit that ball. Once she’s made contact with the ball, she puts the bat down and runs to first base. At first base, she high fives…. Roberto Alomar!
Who’s Roberto Alomar? Come on… really? You don’t know???
Here’s his Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Alomar
So… now that you know all the things Emily would never do and that not only she’s awesome on that video, she’s also playing baseball with former Blue Jays player and Hall of Famer Robbie Alomar….
Let me ask you again, how is that video?
I admit that my voice is annoying but overall that video is amazing!!!
The afternoon was beyond anything I could have imagined.
Look at Emily’s team!
Look at those smiles!
We made first page of the local newspaper
I wished the newspaper would still let you read it on-line for free, I would have love to give you the link to the article because it’s great. They talk about the Blue Jays players but they mostly talk about our players.
See these guys with Emily?
She was chatting with them while the “Blue” were at the bat!
The guy on the left is Sandy Alomar Sr. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Alomar,_Sr.
Later on when he was signing Emily’s new Blue Jays t-shirt, I asked him what they were talking about earlier…
Turns out Emily was telling him about hockey and Justin Bieber….
LOL…. she talked to a former MLB player about her favorite sport to watch….. Hockey!!!
How awesome is that? Talk about full honesty, no pretenses, no BS… just 100% Emily truth.
In the newspaper article, they mentioned how one of our player asked Duane Ward if he plays Super Mario. The guy won 2 world series but our player wanted to talk about video games … and apparently, Duane is not really good at video games.
3 years ago, Emily lasted 15 to 20 minutes a week at baseball than wanted to go home, Now she stays for the hour and a half. She gets there, says hi to Lexie, Jacob, Pascale, Taylor and so many more… She gives Brent a hug, says hello to Pat (the field of dream pitcher) than look for Mikey. He’s number 7 for the Hub City Brewers and he is Emily’s favorite guy. Not sure why she picked him… but over the last 3 years, that guy has allowed her to talk about Justin Bieber as much as she wants. He is helping her learn to catch the ball… that’s a work in progress and he is not giving up. In previous years, when Mikey was not there, Emily used to be completely lost but now she can go see another player and manages just fine.
When people look at our kids they see their differences, they see their disabilities.
Yesterday on that baseball field, I only saw abilities…. abilities of various levels. Everybody at the same level, it’s easy when the game is just a game. Everybody went to bat and went around all the bases. Nobody counted points, not because they are all winners but because it was a game! It was fun!
Grey or Blue team didn’t matter, they all cheered for each other, they all high fived each other, they all laughed and ran and played!
Yesterday was the kind of day you can’t buy for our kids, this is the kind of day that happens only when a group of amazing people get together and believe in a common cause…
…..
Thank you to all that made that day possible!
Yesterday, Emily’s baseball team was invited to participate in a 90 minutes baseball game with some former Blue Jays that were in town as part of Blue Jays Honda Super camp
http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/tor/baseball_academy/honda_super_camps_en.jsp
Emily’s field of Dreams team exist because of the Hub City Brewers, their wifes and girlfriends, their friends and some other great volunteers…
Those guys, all have jobs, they train with their team, they play games from Spring to Fall and spend 1.5 hour per week with our kids, playing baseball. Making each and every single one of them feel like a pro baseball player.
http://www.hubcitybrewers.com/field/
The opportunity to play with the Blue Jays was made possible by an alignment of stars and the contribution of not only the Blue Jays and the Hub City Brewers but also the involvement of Baseball Canada’s challenger program.
http://www.baseball.ca/eng_doc.cfm?DocID=521
Thank you to all of you!”
itsawonderfilledlife 