Today was an emotional day. I went with Kelby, my mom and dad and Brian's family to a ceremony honoring those who have died while on the job in 2008. While I don't see 81 names on this pamphlet, the people speaking from the Department of Labor and Industries stated there were 81 workplace deaths this year. Several mucky mucks spoke and offered condolences and assured us they are striving every day to make that number ZERO. I feel they have come a long way with safe labor practices and laws and I hope they continue to improve things so families don't have to suffer over the death of someone they loved. One of the highlights of the event was a presentation by the governor of our state, Christine Gregoire. Since the building we were in was not a large auditorium by any means, the governor was literally 15 feet away from me. It was a terrible event to see the governor in person at, but nonetheless, I can say we were in the same room.
At the same time, Brian will never be a statistic to us. There on the big screen was a slide show with pictures of some of the people listed. It took my breath away to see Brian's bright, blue eyes and signature grin up on that screen every time the slide show cycled back to him. I know he's all around us and seeing his daughter reminds me of him each and every time I see her.
Love you Brian.
After that, Mazie had her first t-ball game tonight. Her team is called the Muckdogs, which I hear is a farm team for a MLB team. Ironically, when Jack was playing t-ball, he was a Muckdog as well. It was hard to decide which picture to post from today for Mazie. She was cute as hell out there among all the other ball herders. When she played the pitcher position, she was on it - grabbing grounders and throwing them to the appropriate basemen. While she is not an accurate thrower, she felt she did her job by getting it into the general area of the appropriate base. Doing this quickly allowed her to go back to her 'in-between batters' duty, which was cleaning off the rubber bases, hopping in circles, picking clover flowers and finding the occasional worm. The batting tips I provided her were wrong (according to her), but she should improve by the end of the season (fingers crossed).
Serious in the huddle
Lone pitcher...
4 comments:
Nice post. Kudos to the State of Washington for acknowledging those who have died, and especially the governor for speaking.
We haven't had any first-hand tee ball experience here, but I see a lot of pictures, and it looks like the cutest darn thing ever. Especially when Mazie does it.
I am glad that they did that for Brian.
The bottom photo is my new favorite pic of Mazie. My fave of Jack so far is the one on his bike. They are both classics and you need to frame them.
Keep on doing what you are doing. It is really great. Remember, some days it is an achievement to just remember to breath in and out.
I really meant "breathe".... but you get the idea. So much for being deep :-)
I just noticed that Mazie's fingers are crossed in that last picture...how awesome!
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