Teammates For Life

I wrote a post on Facebook the other day about the loss of Cameron.

Cameron was a pleasant young man who was a friend and teammate of our son Braydon.
We will likely never know the reason why but Cam took his own life about a week and a half ago.

Every year we have a day called Bell Let's Talk day where Canadians take to social media en masse and deluge the internet with messages telling anyone and everyone who may be experiencing difficulties to TALK TO US. We want to help! Not just for one day but every day, any time.
Are we winning? I would like to believe so but I'm not certain.
But we must keep trying to reach them. These must stop. The loss of one troubled soul is too many. We must keep trying.

Here is my Facebook post;

There are a few things that we all experience in life that we really don’t want to but we have to. We have no control over.
We especially hope that our kids won’t have to deal with them. A parent would try to move heaven and earth to protect our kids from experiencing this pain.

But they will, and they do.

Today, Braydon and his teammates will be saying goodbye to their friend and teammate Cameron. A young man who left us far too soon.
They’ll go through this as they have been since the day it happened. Together.

I hesitate to use the word “positive” anywhere near this tragedy but one positive thing from Cam’s passing is that these young men have discovered that they have far more in common than just their love of baseball.

Their love of humanity.

This day is going to be very hard on them. Of this I am certain.
But, when we reach the other side of this these young men will be stronger, wiser, and more sensitive to the feelings of others.
When they need us, we are there for them.
When someone in pain needs them, they will be there to do what they can to help.
No matter how much we plead for someone to please talk to us these things happen.
We must still try to do everything possible to stop them.

One day at a time.

Let’s get through today...

Oh Toy Story, Here We Go Again...

Hello there. I realize that it's been a while since I've composed a decent blog entry here. I guess it's not for lack of content. Heck, life has been very busy for quite a while now. I can't say exactly what has kept me from here. I think it could have something to do with too much content and being overwhelmed with how to properly compile it to make it readable by others.

At one time I was posting everything from the boy's sports news to what was going on in their education. One thing I do want to mention is that a couple of years ago, Braydon had "retired" from baseball when he completed his final season with the Fredericton AA Midget Royals.
As far as we were concerned he had completed his last season of organized ball. (This was the same season that both guys finished up hockey so you can imagine how rotten Cheryl and I felt.)
I've mentioned before that the Fredericton Senior Royals are the best show in town in these parts. The game is top notch ball and we've always enjoyed attending the games. The next best ball in town (in my humble opinion) are the Fredericton Junior Royals.
We had not gone out to see them very much over the years. Perhaps two or three times.
Last year a whole bunch of guys that used to play with Tyler and Braydon joined the Junior Royals and looked like they were having a great time. Braydon started to feel the pangs of missing playing ball so this season he went out and joined the team.
One thing about players this age is that most of them have jobs and school so the coaches don't expect the guys to be at every game. So far B has played 3 or 4 games. Their record isn't great but the guys all get along very well and have a great time. That's what counts.
Needless to say, Cheryl and I get out whenever we can to the games. I'm the team pitch counter and she sells 50/50 draw tickets when we are at home games. We love it. :)
They play games all over New Brunswick and even in Prince Edward Island so we go when we can.

So, the main reason for this post...

If you've been around my blog for a while you will recall this post from 9 years ago. I'm sorry that I don't know how to get the link clickable but if you copy and paste this you can read it. http://tim4nm.blogspot.com/2010/06/no-toy-gets-left-behind.html

You know that Pixar and Toy Story hold a very special place in my heart with my sister Hayley, my mother, my wife Cheryl and of course my sons.
After posting that post in 2010 we did go to the theatre as a family to see Toy Story 3.
Wow, was it emotional. I still tear up just thinking about it.
Toy Story 3 was the perfect and very emotional conclusion of the perfect movie adventure story.
In our minds Woody, Buzz and the gang had come full circle in our hearts. As much as we would love to see them again we were resigned to the fact that the story was done and the book was closed. We were okay with that. Pixar had carried us along and gently placed us somewhat tearfully at the end.

Or so we thought.
Toy Story 4 opens tomorrow. On my birthday.
Seriously.
So Cheryl, Tyler, Braydon and I are heading off to the movies again this weekend. One of the big differences from year's past is that both of the guys have jobs so we couldn't arrange to go tomorrow on my birthday.
That would have been pretty cool but it will probably be packed to the rafters anyway so it's just as well.
I have heard that this one is the most emotional of them all. That's hard to imagine after the last one. One thing that I know is that I will most certainly be a weepy mess.
I heard that Tom Hanks became so emotional when doing his lines that he had to turn around and not face anyone while he did them.

Okay Tom, thank-you for the warning

Bring it on Toy Story. I can take it. You've done it to me for almost 25 years now. What's one more time? :)

Stay well,
Tim