My boy's lesson to his mom

We call him "the boy"....it's not an odd little blog thing that I named him, but it really is how we refer to him a lot of times; "Do you have the boy?"  "What is the boy doing?"  and so forth.  So, here is my lesson from the boy. 

Last night was baseball (SHOCK!).  This is his first year in a new league, and he's the youngest of the age level that goes from 9-12.  He's always been tall for his age, but seeing him next to some of these 12 year olds makes him look like a midget!  Those kids are huge!  It's been a huge learning curve for him but a great experience: he's come a long way.

Now to last night.  It was a very tight game: we were ahead, they creeped up, we fought back and so forth.  It came to the bottom of the 5th and the catcher got hit by a ball for the second time: he was out.  The 2nd catcher had already pitched his max, and that means you can't catch either that game (protecting young arms).  The 3rd catcher was pitching at the time and couldn't switch.  The next up was the youngest player on the team, who is about 1/2 the size of the guy up to bat.  He just shook his head "no" to the coach.  Next up was an experienced outfielder, but due to equipment issues he couldn't catch.  The coach was just standing there scratching his head.  I was keeping score, and just whispered quietly and anxiously...."carter has caught before" as I simultaneously wondered what the heck I was doing at the same time.  He has caught, a lot, but in younger leagues where the kids are his size and the pitches come in 1/2 as fast. 

Coach looked at him and said "Carter: suit up."  And without hesitation, he did.  The umpire gave him two,  two whole pitches to warm up.  It was all I could do to beg for more, but I contained myself and behaved.   Pitch #1 was a hit and an out, and we were out of the inning. 

Bottom of the sixth and he was back in.  The pitches were hard and the kids large, but he didn't seem to mind.  He caught some hard throws and missed some.  The game ended on a passed ball where the biggest and best player from the other team was able to steal third for the winning run.  They had lost.

But you know what he did?  He got in line, congratulated the other team with a smile on his face and head held high.  He got a lot of compliments from other players and coaches who knew him and knew he had stepped up and gutted through it. 

He lost the game, and I have never been prouder. 

Lessons?  Get in the game, gear up, do what you need to do, work hard, and when you've done the best you can do, smile and shake hands with your opponent. 

This mom listened.

Thanks boy.



** My heart is so heavy reading the news out of Oklahoma.  My prayers are with those families suffering loss of loved ones, especially the littlest of those.**