Halfway through my drive home from work on Friday, I decided to take a little detour through the neighborhood I grew up in. I knew it would add ten minutes onto my commute, but the sun was shining, the leaves were every color imaginable, and I had snuck out a little earlier than usual anyway. So why not? I passed by an old ball field that’s been around since long before I was even born. Growing up, you would not see that field empty. If the sun was shining, kids would be playing on it and most of the time, I was among them. In recent years though, that wasn’t the case.
Part of me blames parents. Part of me blames technology. And I’ll even assign some of that blame to the city for letting the field go a bit. Sure, it’s no longer among the game venues for that league, but it wouldn’t kill them to weed the infield from time to time. So, when I saw a bunch of kids out there running routine maintenance themselves, I was blown away. Maybe they’re just clearing a runway for one of their high-tech gadgets. Or maybe... just maybe... they’re taking matters into their own hands and actually want to use the field for it’s intended purpose. Whatever the case, I continued on my drive and quickly forgotten about my recent puzzlement.
That is, until my sister decided to throw an impromptu get-together with the rest of my siblings, our children and my parents. We just can’t stay apart any longer than the CDC wishes we would. Our mental and emotional health and that of our children is at stake too, which is something they don’t factor into their statistics and recommendations.
Anyway, en route to her house, we just so happened to pass the same ball field I drove by on my way home two days prior. And I’ll be darned... there must’ve been twenty or so kids playing baseball! And with no parent yelling at them or the umps. It was just like a scene out of my childhood. I could not believe my eyes since such a sight was rare, if not nonexistent in today’s world. Looks like these kids and/or their parents share the same belief as we do. It’s time to reconnect.
And as much as I hate this virus and our governments’ overreaction to it, people are once again learning to appreciate the simple things in life. You can’t beat the time we had today with family or the sight we saw on our way there. But the kicker here is, that our oldest boy who was with a friend today and as a result, couldn’t join us at my sisters, was one of those kids on that ball field. Life ain’t so bad after all.
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