Bittersweet

"Bittersweet," said Melissa Dodge as we stood under the Rebel Park pavilion watching our ballplayers say good-bye to one another, their season having ended with an 8-3 elimination loss to Haymarket in the first round of the playoffs.

Some players said their good-byes and then didn't bother to leave.  One more joke, one more story, one more look around Rebel Park, perhaps.  Some thanked General Manager Bruce Alger for allowing them to be part of the Rebel organization.  Some thanked Melissa for posting all the great photos for parents to see.  Some thanked Charlie and me for our shout-outs during the web casts.  Virtually all thanked the Kipps family for the great food that was served after each home game.  Every player realized that New Market was fed better than any team in the Valley.

Eventually, they began to drift away, but not before one of New Market's bat boys, Wyatt Estep, 11 years old, quietly went to each one with a little note pad and collected not their autographs, but their addresses so that he could write to them.  And no one left without a parting word with 87 year old Mo Weber.  This is the last group of young men that Mo will have ever coached given the fact that he retired some three weeks into the season in June.  The last of a long, long line.

Those are the two snapshots of this night that I will always carry with me:  Wyatt and Mo holding on to their boys of summer for as long as they could.

Bittersweet, indeed.

Comments

[Martha]

This is a beautiful tribute to the end of another Rebel season, Austin. This is a particularly poignant ending, with the passing of the "Mo era."

[Melissa Dodge]

I had to wait a day before responding because all of this bittersweetness that keeps pouring out of my eyes and streaming down my face. It was a satisfying sight to witness these boys, who were understandably weary and eager to return home, seemingly recognize what a special experience they've been a part of and helped to create. That was perhaps the first night that I can recall that wasn't punctuated by constant cell phone rings and texting . These guys were plugged in to each other and the act of relishing and honoring their Rebel summer with a lingering goodbye. Whether it happens at that moment or later upon reflection I believe they all come to understand the power of community and that they had a place within a very special one, if even just for a summer.
Hail and farewell 2010 Rebels----Godspeed!

[Austin]

Well said, Melissa, well said. They got the moment and now that moment will last forever.