Birthday
They say it’s your birthday / Well, it’s my birthday too, yeah
“Birthday,” John Lennon and Paul McCartney, 1968
The pandemic made 2020 a rough year for everyone. My mother passed away early in 2020 from a heart condition. I had some serious medical issues that year followed by multiple surgeries in 2021. For Christmas, my wife gave me a leather-covered notebook. It was a journal with blank pages, and the expectation was that I would fill those pages. I wrote fifty stories in 2021. This is the first one.
Today is my birthday, and I feel ancient. I am 68. That’s twenty years or more older than my teachers in high school and family friends I knew when I was a kid. During that time in my life, I thought those teachers and family friends were the ancient ones. On the occasion of this particular birthday, I am twice as old as my son. Whew… I’m old.
I didn’t know what story I should write first then I recalled a chance meeting with someone famous. Ten years earlier, in 2011, I became interested in learning about the tragedy of human trafficking. Modern slavery is a terrible crime and maybe the most important human rights issue of our time. I attended a weekend anti-trafficking global conference in Silicon Valley hosted by a local nonprofit organization. One of the guest speakers was San Francisco Giants pitcher, Jeremy Affeldt. Jeremy is a standup guy who talks the talk and walks the walk. He pledged $100 to the anti-trafficking movement for every batter he struck out. In 2011, he struck out 54 batters. I was coaching offensive and defensive line as an assistant high school football coach that fall, and Jeremy’s example inspired me to donate $25 for every touchdown scored by the team I was coaching during the 2011 season.
I had to find a way to say “hello” to Jeremy at the conference.
Later that afternoon, I saw him outside the auditorium being interviewed by a sports reporter. As a member of the Giants team that won the World Series in 2010, Jeremy was a local celebrity and fan favorite, but he became the stuff of legend in the 2012 World Series. With the fourth game tied in the bottom of the ninth inning at Comerica Park, Jeremy struck out three Detroit power hitters to preserve a 3-3 tie. The Giants won that game in the tenth inning to complete a four-game Series sweep. As I waited patiently, Jeremy noticed me standing off to the side and he had “that look” on his face. A look which seemed to say… Oh, no. Here’s some old guy who probably pitched in the minors somewhere and he wants to talk baseball. I waited for the interviewer to wrap up then I walked up to Jeremy.
I said hello and told him that I was inspired by his example of making donations for strikeouts and added I had pledged at the beginning of the 2011 season to donate $25 to the anti-trafficking movement for each touchdown scored by the team I was coaching. I thanked Jeremy then turned and walked away. That was it.
My guys played that evening under the Friday night lights and lost 41-21. The next morning when the conference was nearly ready to resume, Jeremy noticed me sipping some coffee waiting for Saturday’s events to start. He gave me a one of those nods guys give each other from across the room before walking toward me. He stopped and asked… How did your team do last night? I replied that we lost but the team scored three touchdowns. Jeremy said… That’s great!
On Monday, I told my players what Jeremy had said… they were very excited to hear that Jeremy Affeldt, a major league pitcher, was impressed with their touchdown production. The season ended two weeks later; we scored 31 touchdowns that year. Before my players turned in their gear, I thanked them for their hard work which just might have made a huge difference in someone’s life.
And that difference is a whole lot better than a birthday.
Copyright © 2023 by Ray Fowler
