Catchin some rays, catchin some balls, catchin some perspective

Baseball.

Ahhh...it's a good thing.

The peanuts.
The popcorn.
The cracker jacks.
The crack of the bat.
The crack of the large man in front of you as he reaches over to pick up his chicken strips.

It's how we spend 3 nights a week and near all day Saturday around here. It's truly a family affair.

John coaches.
The kids play.

The big kids man the press box and score board during the twins game.


And me? Well I'm in charge of tanning. And eating the nachos.

Hey. Don't laugh. Someone has to do it.

I'm just doing my part.

So after 9 years of livin the life you begin to learn a thing or two in between mounds of processed cheese and jalapenos.

This for example


is a good swing.
Level.
Eye on the ball.
Head in it.

This, on the other hand



is not a good swing.
See how he's pulling his head out?
Yeah. Not good. This will get the coaches all riled up when you do this. They begin to spit sunflower seeds at a rapid fire rate when you do this.

But I digress.

This
also seems to be a constant issue in the dugout. See that precious boy of mine? Well, homeboy has a rather large noggin. So the baseball helmet switch-a-roo is a near everyday occurrence. XXXXL anyone? Sweet thing. Sweet, big headed thing.




I will say after 9 years of two seasons a year of the game we are in the midst of our most challenging season ever.

I know it is largely related to where we are stationed right now but let me just tell ya...trying to break into this good ole boys club has not been easy. All of these kids and their daddy's, and their daddy's daddy's have been playing ball together since they were knee high to a grasshopper. (I've always wanted to use that phrase in sentence. Ahhh, I feel complete.)

So when we show up on the field with dirt and grass stains on our baseball pants from 8 different states across America....let's just say...it's been challenging.

We played fall ball with this league in the fall.....when fall ball is generally played.....shortly after moving here and though we did experience what we are experiencing now back then, it was not near to this extent.

So here I sit. In the sun. On the bleachers. With my fifth nacho serving of the week and know that this will happen every now and then. It's our life. It's our life that we have chosen. We're gonna have good years. We're gonna have bad years. And somewhere there is a lesson we can learn in this.

Somewhere.