Our son, D’Angelo left home.
He is not yet 16 years old.
He has a dream to play professional baseball.
I love dreams, but they come with sacrifices.

In the winter of 2020, just as the world was bracing for the pandemic, our family was on vacation in Las Vegas.
Walking through the corridors of Caesar’s Palace, there was a shop selling baseballs autographed by Pete Rose.

We entered the store to see Pete Rose, Mr. 4000, Charlie Hustle sitting in the corner signing baseballs. No one was there but him, a tall guy, the cashier, and us.

Pete is one of the best baseball players ever to play the game. He’s banned from baseball for gambling on his games. But he’s still a legend in the game.
His son Tyler, the tall guy, asked if we wanted to spend 15 minutes with his dad. An autograph and 15 minutes with an icon?

The old saying, “Don’t ever meet your heroes. You’ll be disappointed.” swirled around in me, so I decided to leave the store without meeting him.

Aline, started nagging me like a kid wanting ice cream.
Are you going to regret this?
Are you sure you don’t want to go back?
He looks old. When are you ever gonna get another chance to meet him?

I stopped and looked at her. She was right, as she usually is.

For $185, we pimp Pete for 15 minutes.
It was awesome.
I asked him how can I make my son into a better ball player. He answered without a pause, “Get him better coaching.”

That answer plagued me for two and a half years. Get better coaching.

We found D’Angelo better coaching. It’s 1500 miles away. He’s leaving us to pursue a dream and live with a new family.

What Pete said to me is true for you. If you want to have more customers, get better ad writing. Get better at serving your current customers. Find people who know what they’re doing. Pay people who have a proven track record.

It’s going to cost more.

It should.

A dream won’t realize itself.

The sacrifices you make are the price of pursuing your dream.
Otherwise, you fall into the dark pits of regret.

I like what Frank Sinatra says about regrets. You will have a few, but too few to mention.

So off he is pursuing a dream.
What’s your dream?

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