By Nick Buglione
With the sun's beams peering through and the steady shower tapering off to a light drizzle, scores of children and parents filled the lot in Veterans Memorial Park, ready to march their way down to the ball fields on Merrick Avenue.
For the four families leading the parade, however, baseball was the last thing on their minds. Even though the war in Iraq appeared to be winding down successfully last week, their loved ones were still overseas in harms way.
We're looking forward to them getting home as soon as possible, safely, said Merlisa Marable, whose husband John is a staff sergeant in the Marines now serving in Kuwait.
The Little League asked Marable and fellow East Meadow residents Sara Flouro, Heather Neary and Mavis Jefferson to lead the parade in honor of their husbands and the thousands of others soldiers fighting in the war. All of them, with the exception of Neary, have children playing in the league.
A lot of these kids play in our league, and they're part of our family, said East Meadow Little League Commissioner Bill Mueger. We're a big family over here, and they're overseas fighting, so we asked the women to come down and march with us.
It almost seemed as though the overcast sky that hung over the joyous parade served as a solemn reminder of the more serious situation still at hand. The earlier downpour had cancelled the baseball and softball games that traditionally follow the opening day procession, and perhaps appropriately so.
He's doing what he needs to be doing for our country, Marable said. Of course you are sad because your husband leaves, but I back him 100 percent.
Still, it was easy to feel the optimism radiating from the children that day. Waiting in Veterans Park for the parade to begin, girls and boys of all ages joked around, played catch and sported smiles teeming with exuberance.
Baseball, the national pastime that's been a pillar of stability for nearly two centuries, had clearly returned and not a moment too soon.
These kids are excited, Mueger said, looking over the throngs. In the rain, they still want to march.
One of the largest of its kind on Long Island, the East Meadow Little League comprises some 1,350 boys and girls this year, ranging in age from 5 to 18. About 50 more kids make up the league's challenger division, which is for the disabled.
Though the annual parade has always officially marked the season's start, baseball and softball games actually began about two weeks ago.
