My kid is in his first season of kid pitch baseball. I love sports. I love Jake. But wowza, this sport is painfully slow. If you’ve ever been to a game, then you know what I’m talking about.
That said, getting Jake to the games is comparable to Usain Bolt’s world’s fastest sprint. I’m not sure if it’ll be better now that school is out for summer. What I do know is that getting an easily distracted, independent and highly talkative 8-year old dressed in a uniform, fed and out the door in the 30-minutes between school and game time should at least involve some Mother of the Year award. For moms with multiples, I have NO CLUE how you do this and remain upright.
Perhaps, it is this rush to get to our destination that makes the end goal of game day so painfully slow. It is easy to understand then why I missed filming my son’s first home run. The first 3 games I was the obnoxious mom who walked up to the fence to film my son, just in case he did something exciting. Each time was a strike-out. By game 4, I hadn’t lost faith, but I was too lazy (or perhaps my butt was permanently numb from sitting on cold bleachers) to film.
Jake chose that moment to score his first home run. Sure, it was partially due to multiple little league errors and no 3rd base coach telling him to stop, but it was a home run just the same. Funny how life happens while we’re waiting for life to happen.
I guess that’s the point of today’s post. Sure, I needed a reason to share pics of my super cute kiddo. But, if I ask myself to dig deeper, there is meaning in the madness of little league sports. There’s value of being in the moment. I’ve been seeing a lot of articles lately that remind us as parents that we should allow our kids to be bored sometimes. That it helps them learn to entertain themselves and perhaps be more creative and accepting of how mundane life can be at times.
Perhaps this advice should extend to adults. COVID-19 forced us to slow down but it also created a ton of anxiety, worry and stress so I don’t think I’d many of us were bored during the pandemic. But little league baseball – now that’s boring. That said, it makes the little moments of excitement, like my kiddo rounding the bases, that much more exciting. It is also making me think that scheduling some good old-fashioned days of nothing is a priority for our family this summer… think little league baseball, fishing for bass, and sitting in the pontoon parked at Moon Lake Beach.
I could think of worse things to do with my time. But in all seriousness, there’s a lesson in the madness. I know someday I’ll look back at these memories fondly, so why not try to enjoy them while they are happening.
To all the moms and dads out there keeping those bleachers warm, may you find some magic in the mundane as well!
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