Playing for a berth in the Little League World Series is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Parents know how rare that opportunity is for their children, so many of them go to great lengths to make sure they don’t miss a moment of the action. However, few have to make the same sacrifice that Billie Ann Tomei has made.
According to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat (via CBS San Francisco), Billie Ann is the mother of Cole and wife of Petaluma National all-stars coach Trevor Tomei. She is an office manager for a CPA, and when she asked her boss if she could take time off to travel to the West Regional tournament in San Bernardino, he was not very understanding.
“(My boss) wouldn’t let me take time off,” Tomei explained. “He told me, ‘If you go, write yourself your last check.’ So I wrote myself my last check.”
Parents have to juggle a number of issues when traveling with their son’s teams — including travel arrangements and leaving other children at home who are in school — but the fact that a mother had to make that type of decision just to watch her son compete is pretty disappointing.
Petaluma went on to lose to Tennessee in the U.S. Championship game, but I would imagine Tomei does not regret her decision. Special moments at the Little League World Series like this one are not something you want to miss out on as a parent. Losing her job to witness a once in a lifetime opportunity for her son is likely a decision Tomei is at peace with.
Photo via petalumanational.org
