A Second Chance

Life is made up of fragments of moments. Perhaps in the interest of this blog, we'll call them seconds. Life is made up of seconds that smack us so hard in the face it's difficult to imagine how the cards fell so perfectly.

Like tonight.

Shortly before we were due to leave for a charity softball game benefiting Indiana Children's Wish Fund, Jack spiked a fever of 102. The doctor said not to be alarmed, that he was fine, but the mother in me didn't want to leave him in this state. I was already exhausted, it was easy to stay. It was the easy thing to do. My loving, caring rockstar of a husband told me to go, that I needed to see my marketing efforts through to the very end.

So I went. Alone. And as I'm sitting in the stands taking it all in with a great pride for the company I work for representing what we do best: care about people, Mason stepped up to run the bases. Mason uses a walker made for children and honestly I'm quite certain he ran the bases faster than I ever ran the bases. The more steps he took with his tiny body, the more excitement spread through the crowd. By the time Mason rounded third, almost everyone at Victory Field was on their feet chanting his name.

A reporter asked:

"Mason, how did that make you feel?"

His reply? "Like a real baseball player."

That was a second worth remembering, worth breathing in, worth documenting. Because here he is, a kid who never got a chance to be "normal" running as fast as his tiny legs would allow having one of the greatest moments in his life.

Tonight I sat on my front porch and thought about Mason and my tiny $3 donation and how I WISH I could have done more for Mason. I overheard some voices and noticed a tent pitched in the front yard of my neighbor's house. A little girl giggled as her Dad told ghost stories. And that was another combination of seconds worth mentally documenting.

Because sometimes you need a SECOND chance for life to smack you across the face and say "Wake up. There is beauty everywhere. Go find it."