April 20 10

In the ever expanding line of B+ gear, we have a new item — an imported, hand-stitched, customized B+ soccer ball.  While everything we do is very personal, making these soccer balls is very special to us because I think it is probably making Andrew happy.  The balls will be available online at www.BePositive.org shortly ($25), but if you’d like to place an order now, just email me at joe@livelikeandrew.org.  I’m really hoping that everyone who plays soccer gets one.  I can’t wait to see them in yards and on the soccer fields.  If you’re a local team and would like to place a team order, I can arrange to deliver them to your practice or game.  Thanks. 

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I’d like to thank Melissa Gregg, Freddy, and everyone who helped out at the Jackson Inn last Saturday night for the “Guest Bartender Fundraiser” for our Foundation.  Melissa was the “Guest Bartender” and she worked her tail off.  Chris and I had a good time and it was nice meeting new friends who have followed our journey.  Melissa, thanks for thinking of our kids!

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The only shopping that I used to like to do was shopping in sporting goods stores (oh yeah, and Cinnabons, of course!).  Sporting goods stores, to me, were my candy stores.  Well, yesterday I went into Sports Authority (for a mesh bag to lug all these soccer balls around :)  and I saw a wall of baseball gloves and it reminded me of the day when Andrew said he wanted to buy me a new glove. 

As background, up until that point, I used the same baseball glove that I had as a teenager.  It had pretty much lost any padding, but it worked well enough.  Well enough, that is, until Andrew got a lot stronger and threw a LOT harder.  There were days, especially in the cold, when my hand would be sting so badly from catching his fastballs.  So, we took a trip to Sports Authority because he wanted to buy me a glove with his own money.  Andrew was very careful with his money, but he was extremely generous.  I wasn’t going to let him use his money for my glove, though.  So, he picked out three gloves that he ‘approved’ of and told me to pick one.  He picked three very nice gloves and, after awhile, I picked the one that I liked the best.  Secretly, I was hoping that I would pick the one he wanted me to.  As I made my pick, a huge smile came across his face and he said “that’s my favorite too”.  It was a simple yet phenomenal moment and memory in my life.  To be perfectly honest, as I stood in front of that wall of gloves yesterday, tears came to my eyes.

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In my next Update, I’m going to share with you what a B+ Hero’s Mom has done to forever B+. 

Live Like Andrew - make a difference in at least one person’s life today.

B+

Ali’s & Andrew’s Dad

www.BePositive.org