A few weeks ago,
it was first game day
for my son's sixth-grade
baseball team. To
document the big day,
one of the moms had
volunteered to take a
team photo as well as
individual photos of the
boys.....since they would
be looking spiffy in their
new uniforms, ready to
rumble!
They'd been to practice
the day before and despite
butterflies
anticipation
first-game nerves
my son was eager
to get out on the field.
2010
He'd proudly hung up his
new team jersey, resplendent with
logo, name and number, as soon
as it was delivered, but just
shoved the pants, still
in the plastic bag, in his
closet.
Pulling them out on
game/photo day, we realized
that they were the wrong
size. As in really, really
the wrong size. We'd
ordered an Adult Medium,
but these were a Youth
Medium. Tiny!
With minutes to spare before
he had to leave for the game,
we searched frantically through
the laundry for his practice
pants, which are gray like his
game pants but don't sport the
dapper stripe down the side.
We found them, alright.
Huge grass stains on both knees.
Oh boy.
As I sent him off with Coach,
aka, his dad, to face the camera
lens and then their first opponents,
I felt like the bad mom.
To make matters worse, the
bad mom had a meeting to attend,
so she wasn't even going to be at
the first game, cheering on her son,
that neglected kid with the
grass-stained knees.
Sigh.
As I drove to my meeting, I kept
thinking about those pants.....
Would the other moms think we were
slobs? Would my son be embarrassed
that he would be the only player in
the photo and on the field in his
practice pants and not his uniform?
{And dirty practice pants, to boot!}
Pondering the situation further, I
began to see Will's grass-stained knees
as a metaphor.....for living. Sometimes,
despite our best efforts, we have to just
arrive, as we are, and hope that
the fact that we are imperfect is less
important then the fact that we
showed up, anyway;
we were there.....
in the game
helping the team
sliding to the plate
grabbing life.
Because yes, sometimes it's messy.
Many times it throws you for a loop.
It would be easier to stay home and hide.
But I know that in years to come,
when we look at that team photo
and those grass-stained knees, we
will smile. Because in the end,
it just didn't matter, did it?
2010.
{Bad Mom hasn't taken any photos, yet, this season!}
That said, as I tap out these words
on my laptop, the laundry room is
humming with the sounds of the
washer and dryer, keeping me company.
And yes, among the seemingly
unending piles of clothes needing a wash
is a gray pair of baseball practice pants,
grass-stained knees
telling
their own story : )
Life is messy.
Wonderfully messy.
Relish it.
~ Frederic Fekkai
Wishing you a wonderful
week, whatever the grass-
stained knees in your life
might be!
xx
Suzanne
Posted in
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment