Leo finally held his boy Ezrah for the first time when the tot was four months old.
Caught on camera, this is the priceless moment when a happily married dad met his baby son for the first time – when he was four months old.
A sailor, Leo Laurente, 31, was thousands of miles away from home in the middle of the ocean, half way through his nine-month stint at sea, when little Ezrah was born in Divine Word Hospital in the Philippines on 27 September 2018 – four days after his parents’ wedding anniversary.
The closest he got to seeing his beloved nurse wife, Ethil, 31, and their baby boy for months was during daily FaceTime calls, after setting sail for Europe from their home in the Philippines in April 2018, when she was four months pregnant.
He said: “My baby was already four months old by the time I finally got to hold him – but it felt so precious holding my little one for the first time.”
Working nine months on and nine months off, a sailor for seven years, while Leo is used to maintaining long-distance relationships with his loved ones, married for just seven months and knowing Ethil was four months pregnant when he left for his latest voyage was particularly tough.
He continued: “I was happy and excited to find out Ethil was pregnant, but also a little bit sad knowing I would not be able to be there with her when she gave birth to our first baby. I also knew it would be hard on her not having me physically there to support her. It was really hard to leave her.”
As Ethil’s pregnancy progressed, the couple kept in touch via Facebook messenger, which was made possible as the ship Leo was on had WiFi.
Whenever the signal was strong enough, they would also make video calls.
Then, on September 27, Leo went on a coffee break while on duty and saw a message from home, saying Ethil was on her way to hospital and was thought to be in labour.
He recalled: “I was so nervous that I couldn’t concentrate on what I was doing at work. I told a friend how I was feeling. He reassured me not to worry, saying Ethil would be okay.
“Then, at around lunchtime, I got another message which I read immediately. It was from Ethil’s sister, saying she had given birth to a healthy baby – my son.
“In that moment, the first thought that came to my mind was, ‘Thank God for the safe delivery.’”
Immediately, Leo asked for a photo of his newborn baby and saw the tot for the first time on his phone from thousands of miles away.
He added: “I can’t explain the happiness I felt. I kept on staring at the photo, and showed it to whoever I saw on the ship.”
But, with four months left of his contract, Leo still had a long wait before he could hold Ezrah for the first time.
Hearing about milestone moments like his son’s first bath, or when he began to smile, without being there was hard, but Leo treasured their FaceTime calls and seeing pictures that were text by his wife.
“I even bought an internet card to have a better connection, so Ethil and I could constantly send messages and pictures,” he said.
Finally, at the end of January, he returned home to hold his boy for the first time.
“It felt wonderful and I will never forget it,” he said.
Now, he is enjoying every minute of being a full-time dad, until he goes away again this November.
And he is telling his story to give hope to other seafarers in similar situations and to thank the maritime charity,the Sailors’ Society, who supported him when he was docked in the UK, even giving him a stuffed toy for Ezrah.
He said: “The most difficult aspect of being away from my family is knowing I will miss stages of my son growing up and won’t be there to celebrate some special occasions.
“But it is important to remain open-minded and understanding, to work hard and let family be your inspiration.”
Meanwhile, Sailors’ Society CEO Stuart Rivers has praised the sacrifice made by seafarers, whose work is vital to the smooth–running of the country.
He added, “Many people don’t realise that almost everything we use and own comes by sea, transported by seafarers like Leo, who make huge sacrifices to bring us what we need.”
For information, visit www.sailors-society.org
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Cam Booser thought he was done with baseball seven years ago.
Turns out, baseball wasn't done with him.
The left-handed pitcher walked away from the game in 2017, discouraged by a string of injuries from Tommy John surgery to a broken back sustained when he was hit by a car while riding his bike, and self-inflicted wounds like a 50-game drug suspension.
He returned home to Seattle and poured himself into carpentry, working on acoustical ceilings. He was good at it, just not as good as the guys he worked alongside, and he knew it.
All the while, the game he'd dedicated his life to never really left his mind. He'd find himself thinking about it daily during a retirement that turned out to merely be a sabbatical.
By 2021, Booser was back on the mound and pain free. That first throwing session turned into another. Then another. His velocity returned. The discomfort Booser long associated with pitching did not.
And on Friday, Booser's comeback took another unexpected turn, one he never saw coming during his extended break: a spot in the major leagues.
The Boston Red Sox called up the 31-year-old Booser from Triple-A Worcester, a destination Booser admits he never considered until the moment it happened.
“Yeah, the first part of my career was, by my own doing, pretty bad,” Booser said before pitching the ninth inning in an 8-1 win over Pittsburgh. "I made a few mistakes. But I think when I was able to come back and get a better head on my shoulders, things were a lot more clear.”
That clarity led to the most adrenaline-fueled walk of his life when he was summoned from the bullpen with Boston comfortably ahead Friday.
He took a moment to settle himself and then gave up a triple to pinch-hitter Alika Williams. A strikeout of five-time All-Star Andrew McCutchen on a 95 mph fastball followed, then two routine groundouts to end a day that will be forever etched in his memory.
Booser's teammates greeted him in the clubhouse afterward with a celebratory shower of whatever was available, ketchup included. He was given two baseballs as keepsakes, though they were hardly necessary.
“It's by far the best moment of my career,” he said after the game. “Something I'll always remember.”
Talent has rarely been the issue for Booser, whose fastball regularly clocks in the upper 90s. Control, however, was another matter. He spent four summers toiling around in the low minors for Minnesota, never rising higher than Class A. The Twins tried briefly to convert him into a position player. That didn't take, either.
Finally, in 2017, Booser walked away. Yet it wasn't just his mind that couldn't let go. A friend couldn't either, pushing Booser to hire a trainer. The trainer began posting video of Booser on social media. The Chicago Dogs, an independent minor-league team, saw enough to offer him a shot in 2021.
The Arizona Diamondbacks took a flier on Booser and put him at Double-A in 2022.
It didn't take.
Booser was released in July and signed with another independent team before landing in the Red Sox organization in 2023. About midway through last season, something flipped.
The ball went where Booser threw it more often than not, and hitters couldn't seem to hit it more often than not. Booser was lights out in spring training and even better for Worcester, striking out 15 against just one walk in 6 2/3 innings before he walked into Worcester manager Chad Tracy's office on Thursday.
Tracy asked Booser if he was ready to throw. Booser said of course and only semi-jokingly volunteered to start. Tracy had another idea. How about pitching in Pittsburgh?
At first, it didn't compute.
“It didn’t resonate with him, right?” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was listening in. “Like, ‘What?' ‘Yeah, for Alex in Pittsburgh’ and that’s when he let the emotions go.”
Cora thinks Booser has evolved into more than a lefty-on-lefty specialist. While Cora isn't sure Booser will be able to maintain his “crazy” strikeout rate in the majors, he's not worried about Booser's stuff playing.
“We expect him to do big things for us,” Cora said.
And if Booser's arrival provides a reminder to the rest of the roster about the importance of perseverance and faith, all the better.
“To make it to the big leagues, there’s different ways, right, different journeys,” Cora said. “And his is a lot different than a lot of people.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
FILE - Boston Red Sox pitcher Cam Booser throws in the fourth inning of a spring training baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers, Fla., March 6, 2024. The Red Sox called up the 31-year-old Booser to the major leagues for the first time Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
