[Njagdu] [Fwd: [nagdu] Fan's every visit to Yankee Stadium a result of teamwork]

[MS S TILLETT]

That's two good stories!  Keep it up.  Wonder and I are proud of you, and it's good for your kids too.  

I don't seem to travel far and wide like I used to.  I tell Wonder "if she knew how hard I worked my first three dogs her tongue would be hanging out.  We are looking forward to making two trips to NYC in September though, and one will  be for a long weekend.  

Sue, Wonder, and Megillah
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Suzanne Woolbert 
  To: New Jersey Association of Guide Dog Users 
  Sent: Saturday, August 21, 2010 9:48 AM
  Subject: Re: [Njagdu] [Fwd: [nagdu] Fan's every visit to Yankee Stadium a result of teamwork]


  Hi, Tracy and all,
  That's an awesome and very touching story. It's all about freedom and
  independence to be able to do what you want, and having the confidence to do
  it. I now do things with my dog, Taj that a few years ago I wouldn't have
  thought I would.

  In the past two years, I have become a single mom. At times, I travel with
  my dog, kids and adult friends, but we've been making more solo trips
  lately. This past week I was on vacation and my kids and I were determined
  to strike out on our own. Bryan, also visually impaired and eleven, and
  Lauren, sighted and nine, traveled to the beach at the Hilton in Atlantic
  City where Taj enjoyed the sand and the surf. Another day, we went to Bounce
  U, one of those very noisy and crowded places for children to jump and play
  for two hours. The next night, we found ourselves on the Ocean City
  Boardwalk, in and out of shops, restaurants, and on the Cast Away Cove Pier
  for amusement rides. UP and down steps, in and out of noisy lit-up rides,
  and through crowds of people Taj and I followed behind my two kids.
  Yesterday, we went to Clementon Water Park. I spent a lot of time cooling
  Taj off with bottles of water over his neck and back, and bowls full to
  drink. We traversed the park to find the different water rides, lunch tables
  and games. I do believe he sighed a heavy sigh of relief when at last the
  Access Link bus pulled up to our home some nine hours later, and we walked
  quietly down the steps and made a detour to his favorite spot in a field
  next door for a break.

  The moral of the story--it can be done! It's all about confidence and faith
  in yourself and your dog.

  Thanks for reading
  Suzanne

  -----Original Message-----
  From: njagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:njagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org]On
  Behalf Of Tracy Carcione
  Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2010 7:46 AM
  To: njagdu at nfbnet.org
  Subject: [Njagdu] [Fwd: [nagdu] Fan's every visit to Yankee Stadium a
  result of teamwork]


  This story is from last year, but I enjoyed re-reading it.
  The other day, I put on the Yankees game for a minute, during the
  commercial in the Mets game, and Jane and Pete Lang were in the broadcast
  booth.  It was fun listening.  Jane's new dog is Clipper, so he has a Joe
  DiMaggio jersey. The broadcasters were remarking how quietly Clipper was
  lying there.  People remark the same about my Ben.  I expect my dog to lie
  quietly, but JQ Public seems to expect him to be leaping about like a
  fool.  Guess they're used to untrained dogs.
  Anyway, here's last year's story.


  NEW YORK - The doors to the D Train open at 161st and River Ave and they
  step onto the platform, one unlikely Yankees fan guiding another through the
  dense game-day crowd.

  Laramie leads the way. Jane Lang follows at his side. They walk up a
  stairwell to the street and past the vendors lined up alongside the famous
  ballpark. They circle around to Gate 4, where Laramie stops in front of his
  favorite tree. He has earned a quick bathroom break.

  "Isn't this place something?" Lang asks when they finally make their way to
  her seats behind home plate. This is a spot that gives her an ideal view of
  the old ballpark, from the famous facade that looms in the outfield to the
  infield grass that is always a perfect shade of green.

  Except she has never seen Yankee Stadium - at least not in the way most fans
  have. Jane Lang is blind. Laramie, a golden retriever, is her guide dog. For
  the past eight years, they have made the trip from their home Morris Plains
  to the Bronx too many times to count.

  And one week from today, along with 55,000 other fortunate fans, they will
  make it for the final time.


  "I am very sad about it. I love it here," Lang said. She is wearing a
  light-blue Derek Jeter T-shirt and dangly Yankees earrings, and Laramie has
  curled up on a Yankees beach towel spread at her feet. "The minute I step
  into Yankee Stadium, I feel safe.

  "I feel home."

  Yankee Stadium means something different to every fan that has walked
  through its gates since 1923. The first time Lang made this trip, she
  gripped the metal bar in front of her seat, heard those familiar sounds of
  batting practice and beer vendors, and couldn't stop her tears.

  "What are you crying for?" the usher asked her. "We haven't even lost the
  game yet!"

  "I'm crying," Jane Lang said, "because I got here on my own."

  That first journey was not without an unintentional detour. She had filled
  her pockets with eight pieces of candy, one for each stop the D Train would
  make, and popped one into her mouth every time the doors opened.

  But she must have dropped one piece along the way, because she got off one
  stop too soon. It didn't take long to figure out that something was wrong,
  though. Laramie wouldn't budge until she got back on the train.

  He leads her around puddles in the street and past careless teenagers
  talking on their cell phones as the walk. He makes sure she stops on every
  corner and waits for the light to turn green.

  He walks like a typical New Yorker, never hesitant to bump his way through a
  slow-moving crowd. Lang follows at his right side, whispering "good boy"
  when he stops at the subway stairs or near the edge of a ramp.

  It is a two-hour trip that could test the nerves of a person with 20/20
  vision. Lang, 65, makes it about 25 times a year, sometimes with her husband
  Pete to help, but often just with Laramie.

  "You can't be afraid," Lang said, "because if you're afraid, you can't do
  anything."

  She has experienced Yankee Stadium in a way unlike any of the millions of
  people who have come here. She has listens to the radio broadcast of the
  game in one ear and the reaction from the crowd in the other. If the other
  fans get angry about a call, she joins them.

  "Hey ump!" she'll yell from her seat. "Are you watching the same game I'm
  watching?"

  Pete planned a special surprise for their 41st wedding anniversary, leading
  her onto the field before a game and into the Yankees dugout where Jorge
  Posada was waiting for her.
  She reached up and felt his face.

  "He has such a great smile, he really does," she said. "And he hit a home
  run that day!"
  She was sitting next to Harlan Chamberlain the night his famous son, Joba,
  made his much-anticipated first start for the Yankees. Harlan, who uses a
  wheelchair, held her hand so tight she thought it would break, and when she
  touched his cheek, she felt the tears.

  The Yankees have become her family. Maybe the fans around her are furious
  with the team for its struggles on the field this season, but Lang is
  grateful that they put a fresh patch of sod outside for Laramie if he needs
  to make a bathroom break. She kisses the concessionaire and sends Christmas
  cards to the ushers.

  She wishes she could meet owner George Steinbrenner some day, because she
  knows exactly what she would tell. "You know what I would do?" she said. "I
  would touch his face and give him a big hug and say, 'Thanks for giving me
  so much joy over the years.'"

  Lang hopes she can still visit the new Yankee Stadium next year, but
  Laramie, now 10, won't come back after the final trip to the old ballpark on
  Sunday. The team even put his picture on the scoreboard screen last month,
  congratulating him on his upcoming retirement.

  That day after the game, as the two walked down the steps to the D Train,
  fans spotted the golden retriever.

  "Make way for Laramie!" they yelled, and the crowded parted to let them
  through.

  He will lead her down those steps one last time next week, and Lang knows
  she'll be crying when he does. But they'll leave this place with a lifetime
  of memories from a ballpark she has seen in way nobody else has.




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