When a woman is pregnant, she weaves dreams for her unborn child - what hobbies they'll like or what they will be when the grow up. I was no different. I dreamed that Joey would be a baseball player. And even though he was born at 28 weeks, he had a clean bill of health. Well, almost. He would sometimes forget to breathe, especially when eating, so he came home with an apnea monitor. And all was good until that day the monitor went off and this time, it wasn't a false alarm. And our worst fears were (much) later confirmed when we found out he had suffered "Oxygen Deprived Brain Damage" and it was mild, but would affect his sucking/swallowing, his left arm and both legs. And with the label of Cerebral Palsy, all dreams I had for him went swirling down the drain.
Several years, and lots and lots of therapy, later, we come to tonight. Tonight was Joey's first night of baseball. Yes, I said baseball. We are fortunate enough to have a Miracle League here in Kenosha, where every disabled child can play baseball with a buddy on the Miracle Field, a baseball field that is cushey enough to soften the falls of playing. And I cried when I saw him out there. Little Joe was playing baseball and doing an AWESOME job of it too! Never doubt the spirit of a little boy was says, "I CAN!!"
