Miracles do Happen

 

Nothing to do with travel, but felt led to post this.  Mississippi:  where we live, the bottom on all the good lists, and the top of all the bad ones.  It seems we never do anything the right way.  That can be said for everything from race, to politics, to health care, whatever.

But, our little community did one thing right.  We built a Miracle League field.  If you don’t know what that is you can click on the link for the full story.  The short story is that it’s a specially constructed baseball field for the handicapped. The entire field is a rubber compound which makes it difficult to get injured in a fall.  It took a while for the idea to come to fruition, but it’s now a reality.

Wanda and I attended the second round of games this past Saturday.  I didn’t take a camera, but a dear friend did and posted many pictures on Facebook.  I grabbed a few of them for this blog.

The Miracle league is for everyone.  Young and old, black or white, mentally of physically handicapped. Volunteers from the community college, local schools, and civic organizations show up to join in the fun and serve as mentors to the players if needed.

There’s not many words that can describe what we experienced while watching three games.  There was a game between the older guys and the local college football team.  You can guess who lost.

           

The other two games were for the younger, or more gifted.  Here’s a few moments for your enjoyment.

                           

       

 

 

 

                        

                      

Did you notice a similarity among most all the photo’s?

Maybe, the smiles?  Everyone was having a blast.  From age’s young or old, male or female, black or white.  It didn’t matter.  Isn’t it amazing what a simple thing like a baseball field can do for a community?

It could be said that our leaders should visit a Miracle League game, or two.  They might learn something.

Got a trip on the horizon.  Hope to be blogging about that soon…………jc

It Finally Arrived,

 

Spring, that is.

Though the annual Azalea Festival was nearly a month ago, with nary an azalea in sight, the temperatures finally warmed up enough the past week for them to awaken.

It’s practically impossible to find a home anywhere in our part of the world that doesn’t have at least one azalea bush. Most have dozens, if not hundreds.  All colors of the rainbow. 

Just a little walk around our neck of the woods. 

Spent dogwood blossoms.

Neighbors yard.

And, just for those that have never seen it,

how about some poke salad.  A sure sign of spring.

Thanks to all for the comments on our friends passing.  They were truly appreciated……jc

What Do You Say; what can you do?

 

I’ve been asked the past week if I had given up blogging.  The answer is no. Hopefully,  there will be things to blog about again, in the near future.  The past three weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions that put the blog on the back burner.  Some of you have experienced the same within recent months.

While at Gunter Hill campground, we received word that our neighbors wife, the wife of one of my best friends, had been diagnosed with intestinal cancer.  The prognosis wasn’t good, and we returned home rather than continue to spend more time on the road. 

Someone we talked with many times each week,  drank coffee together, went out to eat most Friday nights. Just plain good friends and neighbors.

She goes for a doctors visit complaining of abdominal pain, six weeks ago.  Diagnosed with inflamed diverticulosis. 

Two weeks later a scope and surgery reveal cancer.  That’s the week we were in Alabama.  This past Thursday she died.  The funeral was today.  Six weeks!!

What do you say to her husband, her children, her grandchildren?  The common phrase’s such as; “ you’re in our prayers,  thinking about you, we’re here if you need us, etc.”, seem so empty. 

I’m sure that time will begin to heal the ache in the heart of her husband of 47+ years, along with the children and grandchildren.  But until then, what do you say, what can you do??