A Heavy Heart

I was working on an assignment for the blog class I am taking when an email came through yesterday that stopped me cold in my tracks. News of a tragic accident in Wheaton this week came through on our baseball site. You can read the article from the Wheaton Patch here: Boy Dies After Baseball Accident.

I still can't shake the sadness I feel from this happening. This boy woke up, probably excited to have a game that night and someone said, like they always say, at every baseball game, "Go warm up so and so" and he does and that's it. In the next instant, so many lives shattered. His life...at 12 years old...over. His parents, probably going through the motions of the day thinking of all they had to do, maybe excited, maybe aggravated that they had to go to a game that night but never dreaming they'd never see their son again. The kid who was pitching...will never be the same. His teammates will never be the same as they watched as their friend slipped away. The kids from the other baseball team, watching in shock as the tragedy unfolded, will never be the same. The rest of the community left with the knowledge that every moment is precious and that life is fragile and in an instant, it can be taken away and everything you know to be true, is not.

Baseball..."America's favorite pastime"...not the place where kids die. Every one of us that has a child in baseball read the article and thought the same thing, "It could have been my kid." Either as the pitcher, the catcher or the teammate. Coaches read it and felt sick because they've said, "Go warm up so and so" and never given it another thought. Even if you don't have a kid that plays baseball, if you have kids, you think of the devastation of losing one of them. Even if you don't have kids, you feel sick at how at 12 years old, no one's life should be over. Nico is a catcher. How many times has he warmed up a pitcher without the right gear on? I don't even know the answer to that because I don't pay attention. I don't pay attention because though in the back of my mind, I'm afraid he might suffer an injury, I NEVER think he might die. Nico is also a pitcher. Does the kid who is warming him up wear the right gear? Again, I don't know and because I can't say for sure that they do, my heart stopped and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as this tragedy hit so close to home.

Please say a prayer for this boy's family and everyone affected by this tragedy and as we all head out to today's baseball festivities, hug your kids a little tighter and remind them to be safe.