The Debut

Why I ever thought Logan's debut would be on any day other than April 8th is beyond me. Eight has always been a favorite of mine. My birthday is on the 8th, my shoe size is 8, and I got my braces off on December 8th, 2004 (that was a great day, obviously). 

As I've grown up, I've taken the number 8 as a sign that God is using me and I'm in the right place. A date, jersey number, running bib... This can be by way of adding, subtracting, dividing, multiplying... however I need to make the number 8 work for me in that moment. 

Logan's doesn't think much of symbolism like I do, but he's always liked the number 4. This is of course because the great baseball player Lou Gehrig wore this number and just so happens to share the same birthday as Logan.

So if we want to get weird, I’ll go ahead and say that 4/2 is when the Rangers called. 4 x 2 = 8

Hopefully you understand my obsession with this number and why I’m so mad at myself for not realizing that his MLB Debut would be any other day than four- eight.

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Walking into the stadium that evening, we had a feeling it was the night he would pitch. After all, they’d gone through everyone else in the bullpen during the previous games of the series. I saw him stand up and start to warm up. In Oakland, the bullpen is not shut off like in most stadiums. If the pitcher’s throw is off or the catcher misses the ball, it rolls straight into the outfield… and THAT would be embarrassing…

So the coach calls him out to pitch. I looked at his mom and we made a “Okay, here we go!” look at each other, Travis started repeating the ‘Our Father’ prayer, Leo sat quietly and my mother cheered loudly and started snapping pictures with her huge camera. Then, we watched.


It’s so surreal to think that one moment is what you’ve been preparing for (cue Kelly Clarkson song). Then it becomes just like any other baseball game. He threw the ball, the catcher caught it, and the batter swung the bat. He belonged out there. 


So then the game was over. We called the family up to our hotel room to pop open a bottle of champagne his awesome agent sent us. Everyone said a few words, told him how normal it was, and went to sleep.

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When you think about a moment like this you think your life is about to change forever. 
Like there’s going to be a big sign that says: 
HEY! YOUR LIFE IS NO LONGER THE SAME! COOL! 


But really, the only sign that's there is 
FOUR-EIGHT: You are where you're supposed to be.