A letter to my daughter

[WilliamPitt]

Last edited Wed Oct 30, 2013, 12:18 AM - Edit history (1)

My dearest Lola:

You were born in Boston on Opening Day. The TV was on in the delivery room, and you came howling into the world just as the Red Sox plated their eighth run in what would be their first win of the year.

Your dad is an advocate, an activist, but more than anything else, a chronicler of the times. It is, more often than not, a brutal line of work; to bear the task of recording the stuff of nightmares that has become our daily gruel makes for a lot of sleepless nights.

So your dad is also an avid sports fan; he puts down all the horror and woe and rage and madness that is the world and carves out a small space in time for a game, because it helps him pick all that back up again after the last out has been recorded and the last second ticks off the clock.

Sports have already left a deep impression on your life. You were born on Opening Day, and one of the first voices you heard, after the doctor and your mom and me, belonged to Jerry Remy, who was calling the game on the television in the corner.

On your fifteenth day, a pair of cowards let loose two bombs at another sporting event, the beloved Boston Marathon. I had never missed a Marathon Day in my life until then; that was the first time I wasn't right down where it happened. I was home, because of you, so maybe you saved me from having to see the horror of aftermath. Maybe you saved my life.

Five days later, you slept soundly as our neighborhood echoed with the distant sound of gunfire, explosions and sirens, as the two cowards who bombed the Marathon were run to ground. When the last one was caught the following afternoon, you heard the neighborhood roar in exhausted relief.

We watched the Stanley Cup finals, you and I. The better team won, which wasn't us, so in a tiny little way, you got a taste of one of your birthrights: Boston sports heartbreak. You weren't around for the gluttony of victory Boston has enjoyed since 2001, so starting with a loser makes you something of a throwback, which is good for perspective and excellent for integrity.

You were born on Opening Day, and almost exactly seven months later, the Red Sox are on the verge of a third World Series title in nine years. You won't understand this, but for older Sox fans like your dad, three championships since 2004 would be the sports equivalent of seeing Halley's Comet three times in one decade.

You won't be awake for it if it happens, of course, but do not worry. We will watch the highlights on Sportscenter, your favorite TV show, like we always do every morning.

Your favorite show is Sportscenter. Your favorite toy is a little football. Every time you drop it, we say "Fumble!" and you giggle and coo and reach for it again. You were born on Opening Day, and have already seen so much of the good and bad and terrible that has been part of Boston sports since you came to be.

You will grow up to be and do what you please. I know you will do good as you choose to. I think, however, you will be like your dad, and carve out a small space in time for a game to help you put down your burdens, if only for a little while.

A few months from now, we will celebrate your first birthday, on Opening Day.

I love you with all that I am.

Dad

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. very sweet!

For me, significant Red Sox moments seem to align with big family events - watching the 1967 series (my first year as a Sox fan) with my grandfather, seeing 2004 Worlds series games with both my dad and my wife's dad....the 2007 series tinged with my wife's dad's passing, and now this remarkable year marked by my wife's mom's passing a few days ago.

for me, this has been the most satisfying baseball season of my 57.9 years. No matter what happens the next two games.

Your daughter is destined to join the long line of Red Sox fans....pretty cool!

[trumad]

2. That kid is going to be a wild Boston fan...

then again--she may grow up loving the Phins---which would be rich in so many ways.

[TBF]

3. My kids are both under 12 -

and playing soccer this fall. You are going to be thrilled when she gets older and you can be the coach!

[PRETZEL]

4. Great letter,

and knowing you, this will be put inside a nice little place and will be shared many times over the course of her life.

[joeybee12]

5. Wonderful!

[Crewleader]

6. This touches my heart, love from another Red Sox Fan Lola Jane! Happy 8 months Cutie Pie!

I know you and Daddy will be celebrating tomorrow:


Red Sox celebration parade scheduled for Saturday morning

November 01, 2013 12:00 AM

BOSTON — Boston will toast the World Series champion Red Sox with a duck boat parade on Saturday, Mayor Thomas Menino and team officials announced Thursday, giving fans an opportunity to revel in the improbable success of a team that finished in last place just one season ago.

"What a year," Menino said at City Hall in unveiling plans for the parade. "From worst to first."

Players will climb aboard the amphibious vehicles inside Fenway Park at 10 a.m. Saturday for the so-called rolling rally, officials said. The parade route, the same as the one used in 2004 when the Red Sox won their first World Series title in 86 years, will travel down Boylston Street, where in April two bombs killed 3 people and injured more than 260 others at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

The duck boats will go on to the Charles River for a time, which they did in 2004 but not in 2007 when the Red Sox also won the World Series.

The New England Patriots, Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins have also celebrated titles with duck boat parades in recent years.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20131101/SPORTS13/311010337

[trumad]

7. Crewleader in the House

How ya doing Crew. Still on the Spacecoast?

[Crewleader]

8. Still on the Spacecoast trumad.

I'm doing just fine and happy the Soxs won the World Series in Game 6 my friend.

[fascisthunter]

9. Dynamite, Will!

[ProfessorGAC]

10. That's Very Cool

Thanks for sharing it with us.
GAC

[Crewleader]

11. For Lola Jane

Boston Strong Cartoon