Dedicated

This summer, the Rockland Raiders Legion baseball team dedicated their season to Mike, their former pitching coach. Mike began helping coach the team about six years ago, and loved every minute of getting back out there on the field passing his skills and passion for the game onto the younger ballplayers. In the past few years, Mike wasn't able to be part of the team as much, being in and out of treatment. His goal though was always to get back on the field and resume his coaching duties (and head coach Thom made a point of telling me at Mike's wake that they never replaced Mike as pitching coach). Among the many things I miss are the weekly trips to different baseball fields, cheering on the Raiders and watching Mike -- uniform and all -- coach the boys. This summer I was able to make it to several games, and was so proud to see the team make it to the second round of the playoffs before being eliminated. The best part though was seeing the team caps for this season, complete with an "MC" on the left side of the hat. There are few things sadder than having people pour out their love and gratitude to someone while knowing they aren't around to hear it. Today, let someone you love know you're thinking of them -- so they can hear it.