The Boy Who Knew Too Much

by Cathy Byrd

  During that two-week trip to the East Coast in the summer of 2015, we made a road trip to New Hampshire to meet Pastor Ken and his lovely wife, Marilyn, who were staying at their summer home. I was excited to finally meet Ken in person and see the cottage he had purchased with the proceeds of the family heirlooms Mom Gehrig had bequeathed to him. It was easy to spot Pastor Ken at the lakeside restaurant where we met because of the clergy collar he wore under his blue button-down shirt. The connection I felt to this kindhearted man was immediate and we laughed when he commented that the crocheted shirt I was wearing reminded him of something Mom Gehrig would have made.

  Our lunch was followed by a stop at the local creamery for the best ice-cream cones I’ve ever tasted, a round of miniature golf, and a game of baseball at a secret field in the woods designed to look like a mini Fenway Park. Christian immediately noticed the similarity of the towering CITGO sign behind the large green outfield wall to the field he had played on during the filming of That’s My Boy. Christian and Charlotte took turns hitting while Pastor Ken played catcher. Our visit culminated with a tour of Ken and Marilyn’s charming cottage perched on a hill with sweeping views of the picturesque tree-lined lake, conveniently located next to the Alton Bay Christian Conference Center, where Ken serves as a guest pastor in the summertime. We will long remember Ken and Marilyn’s gracious hospitality, and Charlotte will never let us forget who won at mini-golf.

  We ended our East Coast trip that summer with a barbecue at 9 Meadow Lane in New Rochelle, New York—the home Lou Gehrig had purchased in 1927 when he signed his first big contract with the Yankees. Our friends Jimmy and Marisol, the current owners of the home, invited their friends and family for a celebration in honor of our visit. It was a surreal experience to sit in the backyard eating and conversing while Charlotte and Christian climbed trees and squirted each other with a hose. The scene seemed somehow familiar and reminiscent of the entertaining that Mom Gehrig was so well known for during her days in that home nearly a century ago.

  I returned to Cooperstown, New York, in the summer of 2016 with the intention of finishing this book. I rented an air-conditioned camper at the Cooperstown Baseball Camp for the entire month of July for a mere $400 per week—the cost of one night at a motel in Cooperstown during the very popular National Baseball Hall of Fame induction weekend. Christian, Michael, and Charlotte stayed behind in Southern California to watch Christian’s All-Star baseball team win their way to the PONY World Series for seven-year-olds, while I spent 10–16 hours per day writing in my camper in the woods. Christian and his teammate Ayden accomplished the very rare feat of pitching a perfect game during their team’s 39-game run to the World Series that summer. Following the final game, Christian joined me in New York to attend Cooperstown Baseball Camp for the last two weeks of July and I miraculously managed to finish my manuscript on the very last day of our trip. I had hoped to take him to a Yankees game while we were in New York, but the pressure of my impending deadline kept me glued to my computer day and night.

  We checked in for our flight at the Albany airport with the intention of returning to Los Angeles, but God had other plans for us. Our flight to Charlotte for our connection to LAX had been canceled due to an approaching thunderstorm. The gate agent said I would need to get a hotel room at my own expense and come back in the morning. At that exact moment, a couple at the counter next to us was checking in for a flight to Tampa Bay, Florida—the last flight scheduled to depart the Albany airport that day. A quick Google search on my phone revealed that a hotel room in Tampa Bay would be half the cost of hotel room in Albany, so I said to the gate agent who was assisting us, “Is there any chance you can reroute us through Tampa Bay?” Sure enough, we found ourselves on a plane headed to Tampa Bay with a connecting flight to Los Angeles first thing the following morning. Our hotel shuttle driver noticed Christian decked out in baseball gear and said, “You know, the Yankees are in town this weekend to play the Tampa Bay Rays. Last game of the series is tomorrow, and there are always plenty of tickets available.” Christian’s face lit up with a wide smile. “Mommy, can we please go?”

  By the time we arrived at our hotel it was nearly midnight, and Christian fell asleep right away. My 4 A.M. wake-up call came in what seemed like the blink of an eye. Rather than hopping in the shower to get ready to go back to the airport, I decided to call the airline to ask if we might be able to delay our flight by a day to go to the game. When Christian woke up a few hours later I surprised him with the news that we would be seeing the Yankees play the Tampa Bay Rays instead of flying home. I’d never seen him quite so excited about anything in his life. He started naming all of the players from both teams and their positions—a skill he had acquired from many hours of playing virtual baseball on his PlayStation MLB video game. As we hopped into our Uber car, Christian said, “Dear God—please let me meet Evan Longoria from the Rays!”

  The Uber driver was unable to drive us to the main gate of the stadium because it was blocked off to traffic, so he dropped us off at a side entrance. As we walked into the air-conditioned concourse of the indoor stadium, the first thing we saw was a large framed photograph of Lou Gehrig that was being raffled off for charity. Of course, I couldn’t resist entering the drawing to tempt fate. What happened next is a moment that neither of us will ever forget. As we walked to our seats, a video of Lou Gehrig giving his “Luckiest Man” speech appeared on the big screen. A man at a podium near home plate recited the words of Lou Gehrig’s familiar speech and it quickly became apparent that we had just walked into a pregame presentation honoring Lou Gehrig for ALS Awareness Day. Here we were, in a city that we were not supposed to be in, preparing to see a Yankees game, and a video of Lou Gehrig was playing on the big screen. I immediately took out my video camera and began filming so I could prove to myself that it wasn’t a dream.

  When the pregame ceremony concluded, we walked down to the dugout to get a closer view of the players as they were warming up on the field. Out of nowhere came a man who introduced Christian to the Tampa Bay Rays’ star player Evan Longoria—the same Evan Longoria who Christian was hoping and praying to meet. The man handed me his business card, which said he held the Guinness World Record for owning the largest collection of autographed baseballs—more than 4,400 balls in total. Christian asked, “Do you have any balls signed by Lou Gehrig?” The man answered right away, “I sure do. I have four balls signed by Lou Gehrig.” Just then, Evan Longoria came up to where we were standing, and I shot a video of him signing a ball and tossing it to Christian. This was quickly turning into the best day of Christian’s life to date. I’m sure it is no surprise to hear that we ended up winning the framed photo of Lou Gehrig, and after the game Christian and I posed for a picture holding our prized Lou Gehrig photo in front of the Yankees dugout. I consider our memorable day at the ballpark a wink from the universe.

  The timing of this particular wink from the universe was not lost on me. You see, ever since embarking on the journey of deciding to share our story with the world, I had struggled—really struggled—with whether or not I was making the right decision. I knew from the start that writing this book could potentially hurt the people I care about most. I worried endlessly about the negative effects it could have on Charlotte and Christian in their day-today lives. This fateful day in Tampa Bay felt like validation that I was on the right path. My fears melted away, and from that day forward I focused on how people’s lives might be touched in a positive way by reading our story. It is my hope that after reading this book people will be inspired to love a little more, judge a little less, and treasure the adventure of living each day to the fullest. I never found an explanation as to why a baseball has 108 stitches and why a prayer necklace has 108 beads, but I did celebrate when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years. What I know for sure is all that truly matters in this lifetime is the difference we make in the lives of others.

  Love is the answer, always.

  ACKNOWL
EDGMENTS

  “Pay attention to synchronicities and people

  who touch your life every day. These people can

  be angels who will help you along the way.”

  DR. WAYNE DYER

  There are three special people, earth angels really, without whom this book would not exist. They are Karin Gutman, Mira Kelley, and Dr. Wayne Dyer.

  My first word of thanks goes to Karin Gutman, my writing guru. Responding to Karin’s ad on jenslist.com for a writing workshop called Unlocking Your Story in the summer of 2014 was perhaps the most life-changing decision of my life. The workshop promised to “unleash the stories that reflect the uniqueness of your personal journey,” and that it did. My heartfelt thanks also goes out to my incredibly talented classmates who helped me find my voice as a writer and muster the courage to share our story with the world. It was also Karin who suggested that I attend the Hay House Writer’s Workshop in Maui that ultimately led to me winning a book publishing contest.

  The second ray of light to waltz into my life at precisely the right moment was Hay House author and past-life regression therapist Mira Kelley. Mira seems to have a direct line to the Divine, and she was instrumental in bringing our story to the attention of Dr. Wayne Dyer. In January 2015, Mira came to our home in Southern California and did a past-life regression session with Christian to help him release his ties to Lou Gehrig. Since Mira’s visit, Christian has not made a single trip to the doctor for breathing treatments. This is one of the greatest gifts of all to come out of our journey to the past. A special thanks also goes out to Mira’s assistant Tamra Edgar for her love and support every step of the way.

  The third magical being who was instrumental in bringing this book to life is no longer with us in his physical body, but I’ve felt his presence more than ever in the miracles and synchronicities that continue to unfold around our story. I met Dr. Wayne Dyer in Maui at the Hay House Writer’s Workshop in June 2015, just two months prior to his passing. At the time, he and his co-writer, Dee Garnes, were putting the finishing touches on their book Memories of Heaven: Children’s Astounding Recollections of the Time Before They Came to Earth. It was Wayne’s enthusiasm for our story that inspired Reid Tracy and Patty Gift at Hay House to take a chance on me as a first-time author with no existing platform.

  I like to refer to my friends who have been there for me at every turn on the road to publishing this book as my book angels. The condensed version of this list consists of my insightful publicist Michael Levine and my pals Christopher Broughton, DeVon Franklin, Cinthia Dahl, Mela Conway Breijo, Kathryn Werner, Melissa Oppenheimer Friedman, Lisa Fugard, Natasha Stoynoff, Shirley Brooke, Brigitte Perreault, Catherine Sarah Manna, Lon Rosen, Rachel Rose Brekke, Alvin and Gwen Clayton, Kimberly Ruic, Elizabeth McDonnell, Betsy Michaud, Julie Rodriguez, Maria Sprowl, Angelo Anastasio, Alina Shalev, Leon Capetanos, Rhonda Finkel, Ann Bucklin, Gary Hudson, Reid Nathan, Stacy Morgan-Kaine, Steve Lyons, Kathee Wilson, Kajsa Garrett, Steph Arnold, Beth Bell, Zhena Muzyka, Mikki Willis, Patty Aubrey, Tammy Anczok, Genta Luddy, Lynda Huey, Dee Garnes, Serena Dyer, and Zoe Kors.

  I will never forget the Yoga Barn in Ubud, Bali, where I spent a month writing my first draft in the company of 30 writers equally committed to illuminating the world with light and love. I am especially grateful to my Bali Scribtribe sisters Satchi Royers, Jodie Jaimes, Katie Rudman, and to our fabulous host Alit “Agung” Sumerta. A big thanks also goes to our German exchange student, Max Lorenz, who kept Charlotte and Christian entertained while I was away.

  I’m especially grateful for all of the wonderful youth baseball coaches who have nurtured Christian’s love for the game. Nick Koep—you get the number one accolade for being his primary coach and mentor for three straight years. The countless hours you’ve spent working with Christian on and off the field are priceless, but I appreciate you most for always keeping it fun. A word of acknowledgment also goes to Coach Jay Lucas and his superhuman baseball mom wife, Kirsten, who coined the phrase, “Who cares about baseball, we’re training young men here!” And to all of the fantastic baseball families we’ve come to know and love over the years—that includes you, Harris “Pops” Steinberg.

  I could have never completed this book without the unwavering support of my real estate clients, who beared with me when my publishing deadlines were requiring the majority of my attention—especially Grace and Masaki Matsuo whose escrows fell in to the thick of my final deadline. I’m also incredibly grateful to my COMPASS real estate colleagues and to our fearless leaders Robert Reffkin, Jay Rubenstein, and Kathy Mehringer.

  My greatest respect and admiration goes to the extraordinary people at Hay House, the only publishing house I ever wanted to partner with. I am grateful for the love and creative touch of the entire Hay House team, especially my gifted editor Sally Mason-Swaab. Thank you for being champions for my book: Patty Gift, Reid Tracy, Stacey Smith, Stacy Horowitz, Richelle Fredson, Marlene Robinson, and Jo Burgess. My heartfelt thanks also goes to 99designs.com for the original cover design and to Tricia Breidenthal for the new and improved version. The artistic contributions of Pamela Homan and Caroline DiNofia are also much appreciated. And to sweet Diane Thomas, we must have broken some kind of record for the most photo licenses and releases in a single book.

  To all of the people who have graciously allowed me write about how they have touched our lives: thank you, for without your support, there would be no story to tell. This list of real-life superheroes includes Dr. Jim B. Tucker, Tommy Lasorda, Reverend Kenneth and Marilyn Steigler, Jeroen de Wit, Kenneth B. Hawkins, Carol Bowman, Jimmy Fizzinoglia, Marisol Lopez, Coach Kipp Taylor, Rhiannon Potkey, Tracy Lappin, my cousin Leanne Woehlke (Epic Yoga), my sister Laura Hickman (and her mother Sonia Byrd), Joe McDonnell, Ben Maller, Debbie Tate-Baltau (Mrs. B), Adam Sandler, Jessi Moore, Kevin Grady, Dennis Foley, Ali and Malcolm Cepeda, Juli and Dwaine Sharratt, Matt Rothenberg, and John Horne. Mark J. Terrill, Jon SooHoo, and Ed Lobenhofer—thank you for so beautifully capturing the timeless photos of Christian’s first pitch at Dodger Stadium. I am also grateful for the help of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Wilson Sporting Goods, and Major League Baseball.

  Jack Canfield—your generosity of spirit blows me away, and you continue to inspire me on a daily basis. Thank you for believing in me more than I believed in myself. You and your phenomenal team showed up in my life at just the right time. I am also thankful to the light-workers, who found time in their busy schedules to read a book from an unknown author, and offer their words of support. Thank you Dr. Eben Alexander, Karen Newell, John Gray, Dr. Brian L. Weiss, Michael Bernard Beckwith, Mike Dooley, Dr. Shefali Tsabary, Robert Holden, James Van Praagh, Mira Kelley, Elliot Mintz, Mark Langill, and Tommy Lasorda.

  To my parents, Judy and Richard Byrd—any good I’ve ever done in the world is because of you. Thank you for being my guiding light. To Michael—thank you for allowing me to fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a mother and for inspiring me to spread my wings and fly. Charlotte and Christian—my love for you has no limits. Thank you for the gift of being your mom and for the inimitable joy you bring to my life. I will always be your biggest fan.

  I am eternally grateful to God above, the master creator of this great adventure we call life.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Cathy Byrd is a residential real estate broker and mother of two young children who never had aspirations of becoming a writer until her three-year-old son began sharing memories of being a baseball player in the 1920s and ’30s. A Southern California native, Cathy received her B.A. from UCLA and her M.B.A. from Pepperdine University. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Cathy had an exciting 10-year career in sports marketing, working for the World Cup and Olympic Torch Relay Organizing Committees and serving as vice president of the Magic Johnson Foundation. The most likely place to find Cathy in her free time is at a youth baseball field.

  To learn more and access the full regression transcripts, visit: cathy-byrd.com


  HAY HOUSE TITLES OF RELATED INTEREST

  YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE, the movie,

  starring Louise Hay & Friends

  (available as a 1-DVD program and an expanded 2-DVD set)

  Watch the trailer at: www.LouiseHayMovie.com

  THE SHIFT, the movie,

  starring Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

  (available as a 1-DVD program and an expanded 2-DVD set)

  Watch the trailer at: www.DyerMovie.com

  BEYOND PAST LIVES: What Parallel Realities Can Teach Us about

  Relationships, Healing, and Transformation, by Mira Kelley

  MIRRORS OF TIME: Using Regression for Physical, Emotional, and

  Spiritual Healing, by Brian L. Weiss, M.D.

  MEMORIES OF HEAVEN: Children’s Astounding

  Recollections of the Time Before They Came to Earth,

  by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer and Dee Garnes

  SAVED BY AN ANGEL: True Accounts of People Who Have Had

  Extraordinary Experiences with Angels . . . and How YOU Can, Too!

  by Doreen Virtue

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