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

[Tracy Carcione]

I've had guide dogs now for 30 years, and it's still a thrill to pick up
the harness and go somewhere new, or even just somewhere I don't go that
often, just me and my dog.  It's great to be free! It never gets old.
Tracy


> 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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