When someone touches you...

then the least you can do is touch someone else.

Last Saturday, one of the umpires in the adult league play for lost his wife.

He umpired two of Hongo's men's games. Before that, we never knew who he was. Last week, he gave my kids jelly beans and put Hongo in fits with his bad calls. Then we heard the news....

Something tugged at me, so tonight I bought a card and made all the guys sign it.
"But I didn't know Norm. What do I say?" Most of them said. I told them it didn't matter and they would understand later, and that all they need to sign was their name.

Norm came to the games tonight. I wasn't done with the card yet, but I gave him a great big hug and told him how sorry I was.
After I got the card signed, I ran over to give it to him. I ended up giving it to one of the staff members from the city, because I didn't want to bother Norm. As I walked away, he quickly called me back to thank me.
He asked me if he should open it now, or what. There were tears in his eyes. I told him that whenever he felt like the time was right, to go ahead and open it. I told him it was from two teams, the Mad Batters and the No-Names (now no laughing at my team's names!) He said, "No names? You guys are new....but you don't even know me and you did this for me?" And you could tell he was getting really choked up.
I told him that it was okay that we didn't know him or his wife...we just wanted him to know we were thinking about him.

I told him that last year my dad passed away, and that my community reached out to me in my time of need. People I didn't know gave me hugs, and sent me cards. I didn't know these people. But these people were still sorry for my loss. They provided the support when my dad's family...MY supposed family would provide none. I decided that it was time I reached out to someone else, and others decided to join in with me.

By this time we both had tears streaming down our faces. He thanked me again and took down my number. I went back to the field where the guys were playing, wiped my face, and started keeping score.

It was the most amazing softball game I have ever witnessed. The guys were losing - badly. It was the bottom of the 7th, and they were down 12 runs. Moral was low. In that inning, with 2 outs, they rallied back to win, finishing it with a game winning home run. I've never seem Hongo more excited about a game - ever. The faces of the players were priceless. A bunch of regular guys, aged 46 to 18 having fun together.

Winning a softball game is nice, and you get to tuck it back in your memory along with all the other great games that you have played. But there are so many more important memories and blessings to think about and be grateful for.....because you never know when life will turn upside down for you.