It was a chilly November morning. One of those November days where it’s just the right balance between pure beauties but to frigid to truly be comfortable. The leaves were just beginning to fall off but still had a postcard worthy look to them. It was one of those November days where everything seemed perfect in the world and the thought of a tragedy striking seemed inconceivable. It was the day before Thanksgiving; all students had been out of school for the week and were already mentally preparing themselves for the incredible feast that awaited them the following day. Amongst those was Michael. However, unlike most kids Michael was already famous by the young age of sixteen. He was like most sixteen year olds where his world revolved around cars, girls and school. But Michael had a gift that most other kids are not blessed with. Michael was the number one baseball player in the country for his age group and had appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated just a few months earlier. The title of the magazine simply said “The Chosen One”. Michael was the paragon of the All American child…on the outside. He had a gorgeous girlfriend, a brand new car that his parents got him with all the money they would save for college and most importantly he had a family that cared deeply about him. Although on the inside Michael was hurting. The pressures of being world famous at such a young age got the best of him. Interviews, tough questions and pressure to succeed at the highest level began to take its toll on him as he went along. Michael began to associate himself with the wrong crowd and was by now partying, drinking and smoking every weekend. Yet on this crisp, delicate and pleasing November morning Michael’s life would be changed forever.

Early in the morning around eight Michael received a phone call from his grandparents asking if he could stop by their house around lunchtime to help set up for the following days feast. Just like any right minded human being Michael would do anything and everything to assist his grandparents who were too old to do anything by themselves anymore. Around ten on this beautiful morning Michael climbed into his brand new Mustang and took off not knowing the dreadful circumstances that awaited him. He picked up his girlfriend Katie who had been captain of the cheerleading squad the last two years. Katie was Michael’s better half. She had won homecoming queen all three years, was a straight A student and was the only person who could get Michael’s mind off the pressures of being such a highly touted athlete.

Michael arrived at Katie’s house around ten thirty and promised to return her safely home to her parents just like all boyfriends promise. The two set out on their way to his grandparents’ house on Harrison Road which was approximately thirty minutes or so away. By now the two were halfway there in Michael’s brand new Mustang which could accelerate with the best of them. Anybody who knows the kid knows that it is not unlikely for him to be driving way over the speed limit. With turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie on their brains they had now almost arrived.

Michael never saw the stop sign and eighteen wheelers can’t stop on a dime. It all happened to fast to react or think. The time was 11:45 a.m. by the stop sign down Harrison Road which was located between the ballpark where Michael learned the game of baseball and the church where Michael had stopped going to a few short years back. He had pulled right out in front of the eighteen wheel truck which slammed into the passenger side of Michael’s petite Mustang. According to reports the car flipped multiple times before finally coming to a halt within two feet of the left field fence on the field where Michael hit his first home run. A few minutes after the collision Michael climbed out of the totaled car, limped over to his passenger side window and confirmed what he feared the most. Katie, the love of his life, his high school sweetheart, his everything lay there in a pile of blood unconscious. Before emergency services arrived Michael spent ten minutes doing everything he could to save the life of his quickly fading girlfriend. Moments before emergency crews arrived Katie was able to muster out just a few more words. As she took her last breaths she looked into Michaels eyes and said, “Make it big Michael...God is good”. Seconds before she passed she was able to hand Michael back the bracelet that he had first made her in sixth grade that said on it “I will always be with you no matter what”.

That afternoon the hospital was an eerie site. Hundreds of family members, classmates and teammates filled the room awaiting the results which they all already knew. Katie Coffman had passed away at the young age of sixteen years old. As weeks and months passed Michael had become a changed man. He never said much and would at times break out into uncontrollable crying spells. Michael told his parents that after his broken arm and leg healed which he had suffered in the crash, he could no longer play the game of baseball which he had loved so much. The thought of playing a game and looking into the bleachers and not seeing his Katie sitting there in his letterman’s jacket was too much to bear. He tried to drink his pain away but nothing would allow him to get over the loss of his first and only love. One thing remained the same though in the next year. Michael never once took off the blood stained bracelet that Katie gave him in her last breathing moments. Every day while others were out with friends he would sit at home, look at the bracelet to remind him of all the good times the two had together.

One Sunday morning after a year had passed Michael drove himself to church which was completely unlike him. The sermon that morning hit him hard. With tears in his eyes Michael walked to the preacher’s office after service and explicated to him everything that had transpired in his life during the past year. The two cried together, prayed together and laughed about old times. Right as Michael was about to leave the preacher noticed the blood stained bracelet on Michael’s wrist. Michael told him the story behind it even though it was hard to understand him past his tears. The preacher walked up to Michael wiped the tears from his face and said to him something that changed his life forever. He said “Michael God has a plan for you and that is baseball, that’s what Katie meant when she said to make it big. You can’t give up on the dream you set out to achieve the first day you put on a jersey at three years old”. “I cannot do it without Katie”, Michael replied. Then the preacher looked deep into Michael’s eyes as if he was speaking right to his heart and said, “Katie will never miss a game, she will watch every one of them from above”.

That was ten years ago today. Nowadays you will see Michael on every sports highlight shows there is. Michael is now a perennial All Star in the major leagues. He has rediscovered the magic and healing the game of baseball provides. From the outside no one could ever tell that anything ever happened to him. However the next time you watch a game on television look closely and you will see the blood stained bracelet that Katie gave to him on that tragic November morning eleven years back. Michael now plays for her and plays every pitch like it might be his last. Every time before he stands in the box to take his next at bat he kisses the bracelet looks up to the heavens and says “I’ll try my best to get a hit for you sweetheart”. A reporter once asked Michael after another one of his typical world class performances the story behind the bracelet. Michael paused, looked around at the room of reporters and gazed into the camera with a smile on his face and said, “Hope you and Jesus enjoyed the game sweetheart, I’ll see you again soon”.