Casey at the Bat

It's funny how many comments we've gotten about Casey's name. Most people say, "Oh that's a cute name." Sometimes people have the guts to say, "Hmm, I mostly know girls with the name Casey." I can honestly tell you that I'm not offended because everyone has name associations. And just for the record, all the people Aaron and I have known with the name Casey are guys. But, sometimes we'll get, "Oh, yeah, like Casey at The Bat." YES! The classic poem by Ernest Thayer was one of Aaron's favorites while growing up. For those of you who don't know, Aaron has been dubbed "the walking sports almanac" by many who know him. He can tell you sports stats from long before he was even born. So being the sports fanatic that he is, it makes complete sense to us that our son would have a name with a sports connotation! You can read about Casey at the Bat here.
If you take the time to read it, (or even if you don't, i'll just tell you!) Casey actually strikes out at the end. People have cracked jokes about this. We've heard, "Wait, but doesn't Casey strike out?!" Yes. Yes, he does. But one of the biggest lessons we want Casey to learn in life is that he won't "win" all the time. In fact, he's guaranteed to strike out in life probably more times than he'll actually win. But this is one of the best ways to learn and grow. Now don't get me wrong, I would disappoint Aaron if I didn't say that we certainly want Casey to TRY and win each and every time. That is true. But we don't want him to have the false idea that it's always a successful attempt. It takes a lot of faith, hard work and dedication to succeed in life and life is filled with painful disappointments as well as celebrated achievements.
I want to include an article Aaron's dad had published in their local newspaper in Alaska. It speaks to what i'm saying here, but on an even deeper level. Truthfully, I nodded in agreement as I read this article for the first time. But as a mother who loves her son with wild abandon, my heart also broke. Life is HARD. And no one gets a free pass.