The Mighty Oak

There's an old Greek proverb that says something to the extent that "From the Tiniest
Acorn can grow the Mightiest Oak..." This is often the way I see my children's futures...

I remember Dustin when he was little and learning to walk. He knew that if he could crawl across the floor to the end table by the couch, and then use that table to pull himself up, he'd be able to reach the cookie that Sherry had set out on a plate for him. To us, that seems kind of simple, but to him, it must have been a huge accomplishment. Sure, we saw the bigger picture, "Hey, he's up, he's standing and walking!" But the even bigger picture was that these were the first steps (literally) that would propel him into his future...

I admire Dustin for a lot of things... his sense of humor...(okay, I don't appreciate all of the things he finds funny, but we share laughs over plenty of other things...) His love of music...(we differ greatly on what we think is "good" music, but I admire his efforts to sway me into his way of thinking, even though they usually don't sway me very far), and I admire his musical ability.

Oh, I can sing a bit and drum a little, but I was never a great trumpet player or guitar player, and I'm not sure I really enjoyed it all that much. The fact that he's stuck with his Bass playing is a big deal for me and I'm proud of him.

Sherry is admirable in my book as well... Someone with a hearing loss as profound as hers would and should have every right to be angry and mean about it...(and I've met a few people like that in the past...) But she's not... oh sure, it gets her down from time to time, but she's come out of her shell in so many ways regarding her hearing that I'm constantly in awe of her.

The real "Mighty Oak" in our family (Not to say that the others aren't Mighty Oaks as well) is Jared. He is, in a lot of respects a "Tiny Acorn." He's usually one of the smallest kids in his class, and has almost always been the smallest kid on any sports team he's been involved with. But nothing ever seems to slow him down...

I've only seen him upset once over the fact that someone said he was too short to do something...in fact, it seems like he's been "built" to prove everyone wrong about their view of short athletes. I think it makes him more determined and more focused than a lot of kids his age.

My Mom and My Uncle, Ancel, are both short...and they were great at sports in their day. Ancel is even in the Missouri Softball Hall of Fame and played ball well into his 50's. I have a lot of memories of my Mom shooting baskets and playing ball with us when we were kids, and my Dad (who isn't short) always got out there with us too.

I was never a very good athlete. I played basketball for a long time and baseball for several years. I played football for two years and ran track for one season, and I might have had one or two "moments" that were memorable on my own, but most of the moments I celebrated had to do with the team winning, and not due to my accomplishments.

Jared, on the other hand, is becoming one of those kids who makes the moments happen.
After two seasons of basketball in which he scored over 100 points, and a couple of seasons playing on older teams where he only contributed a few points, but managed to intercept and rebound on plays the bigger guys couldn't get to...he has exhibited a talent far beyond anything I ever had. (He even got a Silver Medal at a Junior Olympics Basketball Competition this year). (Dustin excelled beyond my talents for that matter when his basketball team went to the finals every year and ended up in first or second place every time.)

Last year, Jared tried out for the Pepsi Pitch Hit & Run, and won first in the local competition, but lost in the regionals to a nice, talented kid named Blake.
This year, Jared placed first in the locals, first (out of 18 kids!) in the regionals and third in the finals in which he competed against the best kids in his age group from Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa.

During the final competition (in which he met up with his old "rival" Blake, who is now his buddy), he stumbled a bit on his pitching. (He threw no actual strikes, but got within inches on at least three pitches...in contrast to the four perfect strikes he threw at the regionals). To be fair, all of the kids were really nervous to be on the field at a Major League Ballpark and to be pitching in front of a crowd...and besides, it was the first event of the day.

The second event was hitting... no problem for Jared at all. He hit very well and looked like he could take that event. The third event was running, and Jared outran them all...he looked like a blur coming around the bases... When the scores from all of the events were tallied...Jared took Third Place. Blake was in a different age division this year and he took fourth for his efforts, although I would have placed him higher.

Throughout the morning all I heard was "He's so little, how did he get so good?" and "Gosh look at the tiny one run, he's fast!" and other things along that line...was I upset by it? Nope, not a bit... As I later explained to Jared, "They're not in awe of your size, they're in awe of your talent."

That night at the Royals/Giants game (which the Royals won!!!) Jared and the Pitch Hit and Run kids got to go down on the field and were presented on the big screen at the stadium and had their names announced. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time... Because there on the screen, 90 feet tall...was the smallest player on the field... My tiny acorn was now a Mighty Oak.

I know someday he'll grow to be bigger, but right now he's the biggest ball player in all of Kansas City!

-David