Mason has played baseball with this man since he was 8 years old. It all began when Mason was asked to tryout for the all-star team at the end of his 8U season. Brad and I weren't really sure we wanted to do this because we knew once we started playing tournament ball our lives were going to really change and we would begin to eat, sleep, and breath baseball. How right we were and that was when we only had one child playing. We decided to let him try out secretly hoping he wouldn't make it. They let each kid field some infield balls, outfield balls, and hit. He did fine with the fielding and then it was his turn to bat. Mason ended up hitting a homerun over the left field fence. He has never done that since, possibly devine intervention. Of course he made the team and that is were all the fun began. Joe was one of our coaches and we have played together since then. He is so knowledgeable about baseball and developmentally where the boys are and where they need to go next to continue growing as a baseball player. His wife became one of my best friends and his son became one of Mason's best friends. The boys ended up playing football together too. We have spent so many hours together and have had so much fun. In the fall we learned Joe was being transferred to San Antonio. He moved in January, but continued to come in for the weekend tournaments and planned on continuing with the team through the summer. It has been a long goodbye, but finally the final game has been played. This weekend we played a tournament that if we had won the whole thing we would have moved on to Dallas. Joe was with us Saturday and Sunday and Harrison was with us Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Mason understood that if we lost last night it was over and he would never play with Harrison again or have Joe be his coach. I saw a fire in him I hadn't seen in a long time. He wanted to win so bad, so that it wouldn't have to end. We lost. Mason came off the field sobbing and cried almost the whole way home. It is truly amazing when you find a family that can touch your family the way they have done. I pray that God places another coach and friend that can touch our lives the way Joe has done. O course we will all continue to be friends and hope to see each other often, but we know it will never be the same.
We decided on getting the clear brackets. It cost a little more, but you can hardly see that he has braces. He did really well getting them on and pretty good the first day. The second day, if he could cuss, he would have. He was telling me all dentist should be shot. He doesn't need braces. This is stupid and so on....... Since then he has gotten used to them and is doing much better. I think they make him look a little more grown up. A couple of days after he got them he was batting and got hit in the face with a baseball. He hit the ball and it hit the plate and bounced up and hit him. I immediately said, "Oh no, not his teeth." Luckily it missed his mouth and hit his cheek bone. You could see the stitch marks. Hopefully, he won't be like my brother and get his teeth knocked out after spending all this money to make them look good.
