baseball

Watching kids play ball is an interesting and amusing experience. I was down at my aunt's house this weekend at a ball park much bigger than anything in my town. In fact, the park itself was about the size of my town. There were kids of all ages everywhere, running around in brightly colored shirts while their coaches were yelling for their boys(and a few girls) to "hydrate".

It's hilarious watching the real little ones play. Their attention span isn't quite big enough for the game yet, and the coach kind of plays ring master more than anything. The coach pitches and hollers out for everyone to look for a kid's glove when he forgot it by the blubber when he went to get a drink, but most importantly the coach encourages the kids and reminds them that it's okay if they lose sometimes, that they're practicing to get better and better.

The older kids do their own pitching and get surprisingly serious. The coaches still yell out encouragements, but also yell out tips that the kids now can understand better and know how to take. And the parents seem to pay more attention to the game, because it's actually like a real game. There's enough structure to pay attention to.

What I learned this weekend is that God totally knew what He was doing when He made me a singer and not athletic. My mom is that embarrassing parent who hollers out encouragements and tips more than the coaches do. I would have gone insane. But thankfully, I was the kid who loved music, something my mom knew nothing about. I needed that, and I think my relationship with my mom needed that. It would certainly be entirely different today if I was the sporty kid.