Thursday, July 2, 2009

America's Pastime....Redefined

"Another baseball game, another pop fly, another bunch of boys, and another blue sky. Boys laugh. Boys play." Love that song by Sam Baker. My five year old boy was laughing and playing in the back yard tonight. Giant orange bat in hand, he contorted his body beyond what I would think could be a hittable stance. His sure brown eyes twinkled as his sister taunted "Eh batter, eh batter." He swung purposefully and deep. A total whiff. The second pitch caught him looking at a bird that flew by. Amazingly, he caught the third pitch on the edge of the bat and the ball banked off his shin to his feet. The baseball bat suddenly transformed to a golf club as he shanked the ball around the yard. I heard him mutter "I'm a great golfer!"

That is one of the things I love about my son: his ability to create, to use his imagination and look at the world outside of the (batter's) box. And secondly, I admire his strong belief in himself and his talents. If one avenue doesn't quite work out as planned, he can make the adjustments on the fly and make himself look like a winner. I hope for his sake that he keeps this spirit alive, this sense of creativity, his self-confidence. And I hope that every bunch of boys he encounters will appreciate the way he sees the blue sky and the world around him.

No comments: