Centre stage was Cassidy Taylor's favourite place.
She was a singer and a dancer -- no surprise to anyone who knew the bright and shining seven-year-old. She was also getting interested in baseball, probably because her big brother played and she wanted to show him that she had game too.
Now, baseball is holding her family together.
Brother Michael, mom Connie and dad Shane are trying to cope with Cassidy's tragic death, and being around the ball park is helping them do it.
Cassidy lived with the aid of a pacemaker and, for some reason, suffered complications one day in April. She and her family were at her aunt Libby's and uncle Wayne's for dinner and, while Cassidy was in the bathroom getting washed up beside Michael, she started to cry because of pain in her chest. Michael ran to get his dad and they brought her to the living room. Shane started first aid while Connie dialed 9-1-1 but there was nothing they could do.
Up until that terrible moment, Cassidy had been feeling fine.
"She was actually expected to live a long and perfectly healthy life with her pacemaker," Connie said. "Her passing was totally unexpected."
Cassidy, who was a much-loved student at Beaverly elementary school, had been full of excitement leading up to that day, a Friday, because the next day, she was going to be attending her first-ever evaluation camp for baseball.
Michael counted Cassidy as his best friend and quickly decided he'd be dedicating his season to her.
Michael, an outfielder and pitcher for the 11- and 12-year-old Prince George Lomak Knights, started by changing his jersey number from 7 to 8 -- Cassidy's favourite digit.
The weekend after Cassidy's death, Michael's parents took him to Chilliwack so he could play in exhibition games with the Knights, a team Shane was helping to coach. Upon the family's return, they held a memorial service for Cassidy at an overflowing Westwood Church.
Michael -- with angel Cassidy as his muse -- went on to have his best-ever summer as a ball player. Through his tireless work, he even earned a spot in the tryouts for a B.C. all-star team that ran the bases at an international tournament in July in Ohio. He didn't make the club, but there was no shame in that because he was up against unusually tough competition.
When the Knights attended provincials in early August in Chilliwack, their lone home run in the tournament came off of Michael's bat.
Connie and Shane are incredibly proud of their boy with the big league dreams. They're proud not only because of his success on the ball field, but also because of the way in which he has handled the loss of Cassidy and the strength he has given them through his own inner drive to carry on.
"He is so strong and so focused and he hasn't let anything slow him down," Connie said. "It just amazes me every day that he will get up and he will practice his baseball. Even by himself, he'll go down in the basement and practice. It's something he used to do with his sister. They'd go down and practice their hitting together and their pitching together and he has kept going. He has held us together, for sure."
Added Shane: "He has been amazing. Words can't express how proud of a dad I am. He's been very determined and then when his sister passed, he stepped it up even more."
This week, Michael, Connie and Shane are all volunteering at the Baseball Canada Senior Championship. Michael is part of the grounds crew, Connie is working in the concession stand and Shane is on the coaching staff of the host Westcana Electric Axemen.
No. 8 is on the back of Shane's Axemen shirt.
There's another angle to this story, and it involves Michael's favourite Major League Baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays.
When Michael and his Lomak Knights teammates were at a tournament in Kelowna this summer, Michael won a Brett Lawrie jersey in a fundraising draw. The Taylor family sent the jersey to the Jays, along with a letter to Lawrie, penned by Michael. In the note, Michael wrote about Cassidy and asked in a 'P.S.' if Lawrie could sign the shirt.
It turned out the jersey was an illegal knockoff.
So what did the Jays do?
They sent back a legitimate Lawrie jersey, complete with autograph. Lawrie wore the uniform in a series against the Seattle Mariners, just before he was placed on the disabled list with a ribcage injury.
An accompanying letter from the Jays stated, in part: "Brett wants you to have his jersey and wishes you all the best in your dream of becoming a MLB player one day."
Somehow, you get the feeling Michael's going to make it.
With his mom and dad there to support him, and with Cassidy watching and inspiring from on high, he'll certainly give it his best shot.
Feel free to cheer him on in your thoughts and prayers.
