"Doc" (2/2)



From Part 1 - regarding the family's move to a new town

The Sunday following the family discussion about moving, as we were sitting in church, it was obvious that Alaina was emotional and deep in thought. I had learned to let her process in privacy whenever she was in this particular frame of mind. On occasion, I would glance at her until our eyes met. This was my way of letting her know that "I am here," without outwardly prying.

On one of those occasions, when our eyes met... her eyes full of tears, she whispered, "We can move."

Knowing not to jump on that decision without some serious discussion, I told her that we could talk about it after church. And we did. I was not going to proceed forward with a move if Alaina was assenting just to please her parents. I was adamant about my willingness to make that drive for a few more years. I did not want my baby girl miserable for her final years of high school.

Alaina stood firm. She had taken several days to process the possibilities of moving and had concluded that a fresh start in another town might be kind of cool.

We began house hunting immediately and we found one in a new development in Grimes, Iowa... just outside of Des Moines. In March of 2007, we hauled our belongings an hour west on Interstate 80 and Alaina enrolled in Dallas Center - Grimes High School. 

DC-G had a great softball tradition with long time head coach and Alaina jumped right into pitching workouts with all of the other pitchers on the roster. She must have made a positive impression because the first varsity game of her sophomore year, she was the starting pitcher. When she wasn't pitching, she played first base.

All in all, Alaina handled the school transition very well, which was a relief to me because it was certainly a gamble. Once we moved... there was no turning back.

Alaina started her junior year in the fall of 2007 and a week before we hit the Thanksgiving break, I received some jarring news. I walked into work on a Wednesday and was met with the news that our company was shutting down on Friday. a miniscule two day notice. Ugh!

It was the holiday period and on top of that, the early indications of the great recession were on the near horizon. Not exactly the prime time to be job hunting but I jumped into the search aggressively. My full-time job... was looking for a job. As the days and weeks passed with no luck, we tried to shield Alaina from any worry.

In February of 2008, I received and accepted a job opportunity... in Ohio. Yes... the possibility of a move from Iowa had now become a reality and the elephant in the room became... how do we share this news with our baby girl and what was going to be the healthiest route for her. 

I left for Ohio toward the end of March and left my family in Iowa to finish the school year and for Alaina to play her junior year of softball. I came back to Iowa several times that summer to watch Alaina play but had to miss most of her games. That absolutely killed me! 

Jeana would call me during every game and give me the play by play. One of the coolest moments came one game when Alaina came to the plate with the bases loaded. All I heard was an eruption from the crowd. It seemed like an eternity before she screamed into the phone, "Alaina just hit a grand slam over the centerfield fence!" Man... I hated to miss that!

Once again, we were faced with the "school dilemma" with Alaina. The options were, 1) Stay with our eldest daughter and her husband for her senior year at DC-G or 2) Come to Ohio with us and complete her senior year at her third different high school. She chose the "stay in Iowa" option... until she changed her mind at the last minute and headed to Ohio.


We had purchased a house in the quaint, historic town of Canal Fulton, Ohio... a few blocks from the famous Ohio-Erie Canal. We enrolled Alaina in Northwest High School and awaited the school year to begin.

One of the first things we did was to contact Coach Everhart, the softball coach at Northwest, to inquire about his program. He asked us a number of questions about Alaina's softball background and then asked if we could meet him for a little workout. He wanted to see her pitch and then take a few swings. Coach wanted to see what he was getting into with this new player.

We were done with the workout in about a half hour and as Alaina was packing up her equipment, the coach walked over to me, put his hand on my shoulder, winked and said, "She's going to be a big part of our program."

Alaina started the school year and jumped right into volleyball where she quickly made some friends. The Northwest volleyball team was exceptional and were led by a division 1 college recruit. As the season wore on, Alaina received more and more playing time. Every time she would report into a game... the boys in the crowd would yell, "Iowa! Iowa! Iowa!" Silly adolescents. 


Softball started in the spring and as the coach had predicted, Alaina became a big part of the program... pitching, playing first base and batting towards the top of the order.

The most memorable game came with Alaina on the mound. She had piled up 5 consecutive 1-2-3 innings. At the end of the 5th inning, Alaina motioned for me to come over to the dugout where she whispered, "I think I'm throwing a no-hitter!"

"Yes... you are," I scolded, "but you just jinxed yourself! You're never supposed to utter the phrase 'no-hitter' until you complete the game!"

As it turned out, she didn't jinx herself and completed the rare feat of not allowing a single hit by the opposition. Something to be proud of for sure!

As fate would have it, Coach Everhart had a daughter, Heather Johnson, who was the softball coach at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana. Coach Johnson offered Alaina a scholarship to play softball at Grace and at the close of summer in 2009, we packed up our baby girl and made the 4 hour drive to Winona Lake.



And Alaina immediately became a "big part" of the program at Grace, starting from day one and enjoying a productive freshman campaign.

That year at Grace turned out to be her final year of playing softball, as she decided to pursue other interests closer to home.

Alaina has had her stumbles, as we all do, with all of the changes through high school and into college. She is very well aware of the challenges that she faced... and sometimes created for herself. I always told her that God would use those trials in some fashion... whether in counseling others and/or in the rearing of her own children.

It has been amazing to watch Alaina to grow into adulthood, get married and have children of her own... 3 boys and a baby girl. She is an intentional parent and puts great effort into the relationship she has with her kids. She has grown into a wise woman with great self-awareness and a killer sense of humor.

I'm proud of you, Doc and I love you so much, baby girl!










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