“A Great Day” Chapter 134

I said this in previous posts:  I don’t allow myself to have bad days.

Sure, I have bad moments in a day, but I only have “Good" or "Great” days, and today was a Great Day! Great days don’t just happen anymore like they did before ALS when I would just go out with no plans and find something cool. 

For instance, years ago, Laura and I were walking around Paris. (Yes I know, it’s Paris, it's already a Great day.) We walked past a small, plain looking church when we heard music, so we decided to go through an open door. There was an ensemble playing music in front of an audience of family members.  If we had found this anywhere else they would have sounded good, but with the acoustics bouncing off the walls of the church, the sound was exceptionally beautiful and angelic. We sat there for about an hour listening. That made an already good day a Great day.

But my days of just walking about are gone. Hell, I would settle for walking two feet or even rolling about. Nevertheless, these days, anything that requires driving somewhere requires a great deal of planning. We were recently invited to attend the Nats vs Cubs baseball game. Spoiler alert the Nats lost, but I am a Yankees fan so like my friend Stacy H. always said “It’s all bueno.” Every year on or about 2 June, every team in the MLB honors Lou Gherig’s Day.

We start planning for any outing days before to make sure I poop 💩 at home and not at the event, and I of course pray for success. Something else I didn’t have to plan for in the past.

 

We have attended this event for the last three years with the ALS Association in their box. Great wheelchair accessible seats with all the food and drinks I can’t eat. The networking and meeting new friends is always amazing, and in the past I'd thought I had a Great Day, but this year proved it could only get even better. This year I was asked to be a part of the infield activities. Since I don’t really follow baseball on tv and only enjoy live games, I could only guess what the activities were.

(Mack B. my newest ALS buddy below. I told him I would make him famous. I hope a few hundred people count.)

Alongside other guests, I was escorted down to the field by the staff where we got our badges and went down secret corridors before popping out onto the field. As I met different people and was handed my pass and a signed game ball, all I could do was sit there. As my daughter gracefully accepted everything I needed for me, I did my part and sat there like “Bernie” from the movie “Weekend at Bernie’s.” 

My friend Joe C. threw out the first pitch. He lost his wife some years ago to ALS.

The announcer shared about ALS to thousands of fans, many of whom may have been hearing about the disease for the first time, and Joe and I were on the infield to help spread awareness.

Our job was to deliver the line up and we had no idea how important that was. Since Chantelle had a better speaking voice, I wanted her to do it. We both thought she would have to say something on the microphone. She was excited and looked up the lineup on her phone to practice the names. She was excited about how easy the names were. Then she said, “Shit do I need to know the Cubs names too?” In the end Chantelle and I went to home base and handed the lineup to the umpire, then stood there while they spoke. Haha! Not to say it wasn’t cool. It was REALLY COOL, rollin’ like a boss to the plate, but it would have been cooler if she have actually announced the names.

We then headed to the box to watch the game, meet new friends, [NOT] eat good food, and networked more. For me, teaching someone about ALS is always a good day, but today... Today was a Great Day.

Love and Blessings 

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