Kids & Parenting

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I can't really be sure when the game of wiffleball became the defining moment for me as a mother.

Sometimes, still, I wish that I could stay in and finish the dinner dishes and there was a dad present to run and play with them. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be? Then again, fantasy is never quite reality. Instead, I see those faces--like puppy dogs outside the front door. "Please, Mom, before it gets dark…" There's no way to express the joy I see, when finally I agree to play.

The bases are strategically marked out. Did you know the steady pitcher wears her work suit and sneakers? "Do you want to be the Phillies or the Orioles?" "If you hit a home run into the neighbor's yard, you have to go get it!" And the chatter and the ribbing begins. The, "I'm safe. No you're out!" Or the priceless look on the younger one's face when at last after years of trying, he beats his brother--the Baseball King--fair and square. And the grimace of his brother--trying so hard to take the defeat in some kind of humbleness, or make some kind of excuses.

But I stand there with the birds chirping and the sun setting in the distance, the boys' voices in all the excitement of the game ringing in my ears. And I think of what I would have missed if I stayed at the kitchen sink instead. The joy, the bantering, the connecting, the harmony, the teamwork, the twinkling of those big blue eyes, or that full smile, or those contagious laughs. They won't even know when the dishes get done (probably at midnight, with the dusting, laundry and making of lunches.)

But something deep inside the core of me knows that it really matters what you choose.
Because there is something I think they'll always remember, not about the dishes or even about the wiffleball game. But I think just maybe they might remember something for their own lives, like: SHOW UP, BE THERE, DON'T JUST TALK THE TALK, BUT WALK THE WALK...(OR RUN THE BASES)...AND LOVE WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART.

At least that's what I hope they remember when they think about wiffleball.

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