Last weekend, Debbie and I took a day trip up to the family lake cottage on Lake Freeman. It was a wonderful day, sitting on the dock, grabbing some sun and some nap time.
And we even took a long boat ride to the dam and back.
While we were there, Dad mentioned the answering machine message from 8 year old Zack, his grandson, and my nephew. And Kristin's son, as long as we're at it. I had a big grin on my big face listening to Zack tell Grandpa about pitching in his game, and striking two people out, and throwing two others out. I decided that I needed to see this in person, even if Zack does live five hours away, near Cleveland.
I'm going through some professional and personal struggles at the moment. I lost my job to downsizing last December, and I've since had difficulty deciding what my next career direction should be, as well as, how to get there. So I have some available time that I would not have with a regular work schedule. I've really tried to to embrace and recognize this time as a blessing.
I've had time at home with Mom, before she died, and I've been able to be here with Dad in the months that have followed, and we take turns leaning on each other, as needed.
There are many things that you can do for your friends, family members, and significant others, but there is rarely any gift more valuable than the gift of quality time spent together. So I've tried to be very aware of opportunities to take advantage of my available time, and share it with my loved ones. This would include several trips to Sweetser, Indiana to watch my brother Kirk's girls play Upward basketball and soccer. I've had the joy of getting to know my grand-nephew Jaylen better, when I helped out my sister, and niece by babysitting, and changing a diaper for the first time in my life (see blog post). Nevermind that I put it on backwards. I proudly wore my Lapel Bulldogs Track t-shirt at nearly all of Sam's high school track meets, and I attended Debbie's granddaughter, Abigail's Memorial Day Bike Parade. I enjoyed reading "The Monster At The End Of This Book" to Debbie's pre-schoolers recently. And Debbie and I have already been to the lakes twice as many times as we went all last summer, when my job schedule was jacked up, and I didn't have the time.
I certainly don't mean to suggest that I'm a Super-Hero for attending all the things that parents attend every day, and every week. I'm just saying that I appreciate having the opportunities to share in these memories at this time in my life.
So when Kristin told me Zack had a game on Tuesday at 6:45pm, I decided that a road trip was in order. Unfortunately, my road buddy, Debbie, is Camp Director at Interactive Academy, and could not make the trip, so I headed east on I-70 solo on Tuesday around noon, and arrived in Wadsworth, Ohio in time to pick up the twins, Allison and Zachary, at their day care academy.
The jaw-dropping look from Allison was priceless, when she spotted me standing in the doorway of her classroom. She yelled, "Uncle Georgy!!!", and then ran to find Zack. Zack did his very best to play it cool in front of his friends, and I got a subduded "What's up?", and a leg hug from him.
We had time for a new house tour and some snacks, before we headed to the big game at a minimalist ball field behind the neighborhood elementary school. We arrived early enough
for the kids to play some pre-game outfield "catch", although it seemed that I spent quite a bit of time retrieving incoming wayward balls. I settled into my foldable lawn chair down the third base line with the rest of the Cub parents. Just before the little sisters of the ball players departed for the nearby playground, they hit up their parents for the snacks and juiceboxes
stashed in the many diaper bags and book bags. One Mom told us that, when she had asked her little girl to grab a snack from the pantry and put it in the bag, she had grabbed a
can of Spaghettio's, and the mom held up the can as proof. No one had thought to bring a Coleman
stove, so the Spaghettio's remained unopened, and uneaten.
The game itself was more competitive and entertaining than I expected.
There were the highs and lows that you might expect.
In this league, they let the kids pitch the first two innings, and then the coaches/dads pitched the rest of the game. It was a bit sad when the coach's son cried after getting pulled from the pitcher's mound 19 pitches into his mandated 25 max pitch count, after walking in too many runners. But he made up for it later with his three run home run.
Zack had a solid game playing catcher. As is the nature of this level of baseball, nearly every pitch was caught by the dad/umpire at the backstop. But it was amusing to see Zack peer into his catcher's mitt after every pitch pass him, always expecting to see the ball miraculously appear in the webbing. At the plate, he made decent contact, got on base a few times, and even scored a run, looking like a Serengeti Gazelle on the base paths.
Zack's dad, Mark, was the first base coach. He is very good about reminding the kids who reach base about their options, when the next batter makes contact. Mark related a funny exchange with one of the better players on the team, after the kid reached first, and Mark reminded him to
run on a grounder, and tag on a fly ball. The player looked at Mark, and said in annoyed voice,
"You tell me that every time!", to which Mark replied, "And I'll keep reminding you, until you can recite it back to me when you get here."
Despite surrendering an eight run lead in the last two innings, our Cubs managed to hold on and win the game, and after completing the high-five line, players from both teams celebrated with their post-game juice bombs and Rice Krispy treats.
Later at Kristin's home, after some local pizza, Zack and Allison fell asleep laying on top of their a Uncle Georgy on the big couch of the TV room. We carried them upstairs, tucked them into their beds, and said good night. Later, as I lay in the darkness of the basement bedroom, always the coolest part of the house in so many ways, I prayed in thankfulness for the opportunity to spend this kind of time, and create these kinds of memories with my niece and nephew. And it didn't seem like that much later that I heard them bounding down the stairs at 6:45am to wake me up.
We sat in my guest bed, and talked until it was time for my sister to take them to camp.
I was a little sad to pull out of the driveway at noon, and the five hour drive home didn't go nearly as quickly as it had 24 hours earlier. Anticipation and adrenaline are better than caffeine.
Someone once said that, a good companion is the best short cut to a long trip, and I really missed having Debbie in my passenger seat, but I did drive with the fresh memory of smiles and laughter, and several Diet Pepsi's in my cooler.
And in the end, I was much like Zack on third base....I couldn't wait to get home.
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