Monday Morning After the Game

Monday morning came too early today. We spent the weekend at Matt's baseball tournament. 5 games in 2 days, and they won every single game. Matt hit a home run, which was really exciting. But the best part about it was just the sheer fun of being at a little league park on a beautiful day. I remember as a little girl loving the days that my brothers had baseball games. My dad coached and my mom packed sandwiches. After the age of 10, I kept the score book. It was a real family affair.
There are so many lessons to be learned on and off the field in Little League. It is so interesting to see this group of 11 and 12 year old boys bond as only 11 and 12 year old boys can. Of course there is a lot of goofing around, razzing each other and doing appallingly gross miscellaneous stuff, which I won't go into. But when the games starts and they go out on the field, they turn into a group of little men who not only play hard, but support each other. When someone makes a great play or gets a good hit, they cheer him on and celebrate. When Matt hit his home run, he was greeted at home plate with 12 chest bumps and a lot of back-patting. But when someone makes an error, they also rally. Their coaches are trying to teach them at this age that you make one play at a time, and if you make an error, forget it and move on. After struggling a little with his pitching in one inning, Matt was sitting on the bench kind of quiet (which is unusual for him). One of his teammates came over and sat by him and said "You doing fine. Don't worry about it. Let's play ball." It was nothing profound or deep, but the change in Matt's demeanor was obvious. It's a great life lesson, and as I see the boys learn to do this little by little, I am reminded of how instructive, win or lose, these games can be.
The lessons my daughter learns on theses days are very different ones. She learns that if you eat 3 hot dogs, french fries, 2 slushies and a candy bar, and then you go and play for 2 hours on the playground, you don't feel so good. She also learns that in the middle of an exciting inning, dad will give you money for anything (Maybe I need to pay more attention to that).

Monday morning after the big tournament is tough. In our house, there is not much that pancakes and sausage for breakfast can't cure. But after getting in bed 2 hours later than usual, my daughter had a hard time even pretending to be in a good mood. My son was quiet and absorbed in ESPN update as usual, but I feel happy for him this morning. I don't know what the equivalent of "show and tell" is in 6th grade, but whatever it is, he will enjoy it today. I would love to be a fly on the wall when someone asks how his weekend was. I hope they ask it in front of the little girl he "admires" so he can gracefully brag on himself.

So back to work at the beginning of a beautiful week. And until tomorrow, when I need to discuss how expensive a fabulous pair of shoes has become....