Sometime Dreams Really Do Come True
“When hope is crushed, the heart is crushed,
but a wish come true fills you with joy.”
Proverbs 13:12 (GNT)
Have you ever had your hopes crushed? I’ll bet you can say yes, resoundingly, as can I. There can’t be a person on the planet who hasn’t suffered disappointment, had a dream die, doesn’t mourn a missed opportunity or three. That’s how life goes. We have control over so little.
Sixty years ago, Gwen Goldman was ten years old. And she loved the New York Yankees. At age nine, so did I. I would have liked to play for the Yankees; Gwen wanted to be a bat girl. She wrote to the organization and asked them to consider her for duty. The letter she got back, dated June 6, 1961, and written by Roy Hamey, the general manager at the time, said, “While we agree with you that girls are certainly as capable as boys, and no doubt would be an attractive addition on the playing field, I am sure you can understand that in a game dominated by men a young lady such as yourself would feel out of place in a dugout.” The answer was no.
On June 28, 2021, three nights ago – 60 years and two weeks after receiving that letter – Gwen was on the field. In uniform. The Yankees were making things right, enabling the dreams of a little-girl-turned-mature-woman, putting her to work in Yankee Stadium.
She had a locker of her own; was fully suited out; accompanied the team’s third base coach, Phil Nevin, when he took the lineup card out to the umps before the game; chatted with and fist-bumped the players; threw out the ceremonial first pitch; delivered and picked up bats; posed for pictures; wiped tears from her eyes.
In life, dreams frequently flare out and die. But not always. As Brian Cashman, the Yankees’ current general manager, said in a new letter to Goldman, “Some dreams take longer than they should to be realized, but a goal attained should not dim with the passage of time.”
And that’s true, isn’t it? Hold fast to your dreams. Many will never be realized. But many have been realized and some will be realized yet. Do what you can for yourself, watch for openings and opportunities, ask help of others, pay attention. You never know.
Just ask Gwen Goldman, aged 70, New York Yankees bat girl. Does it appear to you that she has found her joy? It looks like it to me.
8 Comments
Trudie Craven
That’s really a neat story! Focused on the goal and never gave up! “Hold fast to your dreams”,,,,
Carolyn Karlstrom
So glad you enjoyed this! It sure tickled me!! ❤️⚾️❤️
Nancy Hoppe
I like your focus on the postive. We could say a lot aobut our disap
pontments, but
it feels a lot better to be thankful for what we have and the things that have turned out well.
Carolyn Karlstrom
Thank you for noticing! That’s my aim. There’s just so much negative all around us and it’s far easier to place our focus there than on the positive. But there’s a lot of positive, too, if we look for it. Blessings upon you, my friend!
Beth
Never count it a done deal! Love the story and the message! 💗
Carolyn Karlstrom
Thank you so much, Beth!! It sure grabbed me.!
Socorro C. Lopez
Thank you, Carolyn for recreating Inspiration in us :
It’s amazing how long forgotten childhood dreams and ambitions can once again Come Alive in us. Thereby allowing the free thinker within to take us backwards in time * if only but for a moment,.
I look forward to your next article.
ckarlstrom
Thank you so much, Socorro, for your faithful reading and thoughtful comments. I so appreciate you!!