Pure baseball. Ron Santo loved baseball. He loved the Cubs, his teammates, the players, the coaches, the fans, the people who work in the game, and, most of all, Ron loved the game.
Perseverance. To play like he did with Type 1 Diabetes, without a glucose monitor, without a handy syringe of insulin ... defies my imagination. But what he did after his career, battling cancer, living with two prosthetic legs, heart disease and more that I can't even think of right now. Never complained, always tried to work or at least get on the phone for the pre-game. He just did what he did, because he loved to do it.
Inspiration. My wife has Lupus, and, frankly, she's lucky to be alive. 20 some odd years with the disease, and the past two years have been marred by multiple strokes, kidney failure and, well, I won't go on. She's lost a lot - the strokes alone have damaged her vision and speech. But she gets up and keeps fighting every day. We talk about Ronnie's battles regularly. We still will, but it will be tinged with sadness. The message won't change, though. That lives on.
Ron's greatest lesson to us all: Life isn't fair, but go out there and enjoy the heck out of it. Every day.
Friday, December 3, 2010
What Ron Santo Means
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2 comments:
He certainly lived life to the fullest in spite of those obstacles.
Well said, Harry. I'm really bummed to see Ron go, but you nailed exactly what made him that guy we all loved. It didn't matter what live hit him with or took from him, he dove into and relished the hell out of the things he loved like a kid at a pie-eating contest!
As should we all. ;^)
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