Sat. May 22, 2010

I hope I never forget that day. Not because of something that happened in the world news or national news or even local news. Not because someone famous died or got arrested or shamed themselves. Sat. May 22, 2010 will always be the day that I was so proud of my son that I almost busted out the ugly cry...in public...at the ballfield.

This is his second year playing baseball. He's not the best hitter on the team. He can't throw the ball all the way in from the outfield and he loses all sense of urgency when running the bases when he does hit the ball. But...he improves all season long and from one year to the next. He cheers for his team mates (when he's not playing around in the dugout) and tries hard (most of the time). But...Sat. May 22, 2010 was a day that I hope he never forgets, either. Here is what happened...
Time has run out on the clock and we are at the bottom of the inning, our bat. Kyler is up, the other team is up by 1 run (6-7), and we have two outs and a man on base. "God, please help Kyler hit the ball and make it to base. I can't handle it if he gets the last out of the game...again." Strike one! "God, PLEASE, help Kyler hit the ball." The coach pitches the ball...PING! HE HIT IT!! "RUN, KYLER, RUUUUUNNNNN!!!!!" He rounds first and hesitates to run on (despite the coach yelling at him to go to second). After a quick back and forth, which seemed like minutes instead of miliseconds, he makes it to second base. We are tied! "Thank you, God!" Next kid comes up to bat....PING! Hard ground ball right through the infield and keeps rolling into the grass. "RUUUNNNNN, KYLER, RUN HARD!!!" He comes around third and doesn't hesitate to run on to home. The other team throws it home...kid misses the ball...KYLER SCORES!!!!!!

I know Kyler stepped up and hit the tying run in to save the game and that is what made the coach and the team proud. But what makes this so sweet and this mama so proud was that winning run. He has not crossed home plate yet this season, until now. I totally forgot in that moment that poor Juliana was on my hip probably freaking out because mom was jumping and yelling while she held on for dear life...and who knows where Aaliyah was (so thankful for team parents who help keep an eye on everyone else's kids!). I was beyond happy and so proud of my son. You know what's even better than that, though? Seeing how proud daddy was of his son. The look on his face, beneath the sunglasses (thank goodness he was wearing sunglasses, if you get my point), will stay with me even when I'm old and senile.