In His Own Words

While we were waiting for A at dance class this afternoon, J pulled out some sheets of paper and handed them to me.  "You need to proofread this essay for my English class, mom," he said.  The essay is titled "The Million Dollar Dream"  and I'm going to share excerpts with you now.

Picture a four year old boy as he steps up to his tee with his little red plastic bat. As he digs into the batters box, he taps his bat on the plate three times, turns his shoulders, spits, and gets into his stance.  He pauses for a second as if he is being pitched to, then he  swings and smacks the ball off the tee.  As he runs around the house and slides into the home plate of his tee, his dream is born.


Ever since I was four years old, I have wanted to play professional baseball.  I still do and this is how I plan on doing it.


By this point in the essay, my eyes were already filled with tears because I remember oh so clearly that little four year old boy with his batting tee.

Over the summer my parents invited my travel ball coach over for dinner to discuss baseball with him while I was away at camp.  My mom asked my coach if he thought I had a shot at playing college baseball and maybe even pro.  He said absolutely, if I was willing to work very hard.  When they told me this it made me feel so good that I was speechless.  I knew it was going to take a lot of hard work and dedication.  When I told my mom I wanted to talk about it more with my coach, we had him over for dinner again.  


This would have been the point when Coach C agreed to  train and mentor J for his future in baseball.  He describes in the essay the training program Coach C has him on.  And then:

I know it sounds like a hand full to balance all of this with school, extracurricular activities, and my personal life.  Well, it is but I manage to find the time for all of it because this is how I am going to achieve my dream.  There are times I want to quit but I don't because I have the support of my family, friends, and coach.  Every time I'm working out or running and I'm about to pass out from exhaustion I picture myself playing in college or even in the pros.  Maybe hitting the game winning home run or winning the the World Series.  Believe it or not after I picture this I make it through the rest of my workout.  

By this point I was having to brush the tears from my eyes.  And then I read the rest.

Even though I just started training and have a long way to go, I have accomplished so much already.  I see the results every time I step foot on a baseball field.  When I make my dream come true the people I have to thank are my parents and grandparents for putting out all of the money I need.  My coach, Coach C,  for all the time and effort he has put into training me.  Most of all, I have to thank my grandpa, because without him I would have never fallen in love with the game of baseball.  Sometimes I picture him and me in his living room with my tee and bat, and him teaching me how to hit.  Even though he isn't my coach anymore, he taught me everything I know about baseball.  I'm not pro yet, but when I am, I'll have all those people to thank.  And even if it doesn't work out I can always say "At least I tried."  But I know I'm on my way to making  my million dollar dream come true.

So there it is.  J's dream summed up in his own words.  Reading this made me even prouder of him than I already am.  This is the reason I shell out money for lessons, teams, and equipment, drive hundreds of miles, spend countless hours making sure he works out, eats the right food, makes it to practices and games on time, and cheer him on from the sidelines.  My son has a dream that he's hell bent on making a reality.  And I consider myself lucky to be along for the ride.