I want to report a small victory my son experienced, but it feels huge. I've written a little bit about this son, he is a freshman at a Juco in Kansas (1500 miles away.)
He was/is the kid who never quite got the same amount of playing time as the other "better" kids. He was set back with a knee problem that developed when he was catching, and ultimately required surgery two years later (one year of which was fighting with the insurance company to even allow him the surgery). He was the kid who without any encouragement from his coaches traveled multiple times to Kansas to find a school that would give him an opportunity. His coaches actually tried to discourage him from going that route because the players would be of a much higher caliber, and basically he would have no chance. He was the kid who AFTER he was the first player to get any sort of scholarship offer (one of five who went on to play Juco & DIII), the coaches still refused to play him at all in a conference game, but they had no problem playing less capable players. He tolerated that *explicative deleted* for three years, but he had a passion to play, he believed in himself even though it often felt like he and I were the ONLY ones who believed in him. But most of all he refused to quit.
Fast forward to today. Excluding a week in Puerto Rico, today was their first real game of the spring. He had no expectation that he would play today. Bottom of the 8th,down by one run, runners on 1st and 3rd with two outs, the coach puts my son in to pinch run for the guy on first. He reaches third on a line drive single to RF, then scores the go ahead run on a wild pitch. He did what he was supposed to do, mission accomplished!
It was a small victory, to be sure. But it was his victory, and for those few moments as he told me all about it, I could hear that the anguish and the heartbreak that he has endured for years, was for a few moments washed away with pure, unadulterated, delight.
There will probably be more days of discouragement and disappointment. But we'll deal with those when they get here. Today ... today was nice!
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