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Eight years ago today, a 9-year-old girl named Christina-Taylor Green was shot and killed while attending an event with her congresswoman, @GabbyGiffords. I think of Christina every year on this day. 1/ 
Christina was born on a very sad day, September 11, 2001, and was one of 50 babies born on that day to be featured in a book titled "Faces of Hope." 2/
The granddaughter of Dallas Green, who managed the 1980 Phillies to a World Series victory, and the daughter of a Dodgers scout, Christina (long brown hair, at right) was one of two girls on her Little League baseball team., the Pirates. 3/
Some of the boys didn't think she could hack it. They were wrong. 4/
Christina aspired to be the first woman to play Major League Baseball. She also intended to be the first woman president. 5/
Recently elected to the Mesa Verde Elementary School student council, Christina went with a neighbor to a "Congress on Your Corner" event in a Safeway parking lot to meet Rep. Giffords. 19 people were shot that day, six fatally. 6/
President Obama eulogized Christina at length at the conclusion of his speech in Tucson days after the shooting. 7/ washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content…
Christina's baseball teammates wore their uniforms to her funeral. 8/
In April 2011, ESPN aired a lovely story on Christina's life. For some reason the only version I can find now is a handheld video of the video. But if you can spare 13 minutes, it is worth your time. 9/
Later that year my first child was born. I would think of Christina as I imagined my baby girl doing everything that Christina did and aspired to do. 10/
Last year, the Cape Cod Baseball League named an award in honor of sportswriter Peter Gammons (@pgammo). At his request, the first recipient was Christina-Taylor Green, whom he remembered fondly from when she attended baseball camp there. 11/ azcentral.com/story/news/loc…
May her memory continue to be a blessing to those who knew her, and may the rest of us strive, in the words of President Obama, to make our democracy and nation as good as Christina imagined it. 12/end
