You'll find me tuning into nearly every game all season long and I love every minute of it. Baseball is a game of details and discipline. It is filled with flashy players who get paid the big bucks and receive major press coverage, yet if you look closely, you'll find a quiet, humble player who may be the real difference maker on the team. As you near October, that unsuspecting player may finally rise to the spotlight and surprise everyone.
While riding in the shadows of the big-name players, the humble, quiet pitcher has gone out and dominated nearly each and every outing throughout the season. His pitching isn't overpowering, yet he finds himself in the Cy Young mix, while sailing through the season feeling little pressure other than being on the most promising Chicago Cubs team in decades. There were no great expectations riding on his back to dominate, yet he has.
It is a truly remarkable, inspiring story that has unfolded this year.
Life is a lot like baseball. Some seasons our performance exceeds our expectations and others fail to live up to the hype.
It is filled with loud, flashy people who love to be in the spotlight and those who would prefer to slide by as unnoticed as possible. So often, the quiet ones end up feeling the most fulfilled and leave a lasting, positive impact on this world. The only expectations they have to live up to are their own and they are able to fulfill their purpose while feeling little pressure as they quietly move around relatively unnoticed.
Life also has a way of throwing us the inevitable curveball from time to time.
As parents, we have found ourselves in a season we weren't quite expecting. That inevitable curveball has been thrown and while we saw it coming, it doesn't make it any easier to handle.
On Friday, the doctor confirmed our suspicions regarding our son. In a way it was a relief to have the diagnosis on paper, yet as his mama, it hurts my heart to know it is true. So much of what we have endured over the past four years makes so much sense now, but it leaves me with feelings of guilt and helplessness just the same.
While it was a tough pill to swallow, I am so grateful that his struggle is not one that is life-threatening. It is simply a very big, exhausting, frustrating, complex challenge. We will all work together as a team to manage the challenges, work to help him succeed, and ensure that he feels loved and special every single day. Home will always be safe, no matter how ugly the world outside our doors may be.
Dwelling on the past will do no good, but accepting that life is truly lived one day at a time will help us appreciate the little things that much more. This is just the beginning of a very long journey, but it is one we will walk together as a family. Our kiddos will surely learn valuable life lessons regarding tolerance, acceptance, and perseverance and hopefully grow to be a light for both their brother and their peers who may need someone to notice how truly special they are.
We are a team and much like that quiet, humble Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks (who ironically almost threw a no-hitter tonight which began well after I started writing this), we'll go out each and every day and quietly go about our business determined to do our best to help our little guy become the best version of himself.
He's a bright, innovative, persistent, loving little boy and I can't wait to see him have his breakout season one of these days.
It won't be flashy, but it will surely be memorable.
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