As usual, our weekend consisted of running transportation for the boys to various sports activities.
And running, for me. 6 miles on Saturday and 4 miles on Sunday. It's been a good, fairly consistent start to the year for me and I'm very happy about that. I've felt good and strong on almost all of my runs, which is fantastic. It's such a blessing - and one I do not take for granted - to go outside and just . . . run.
Saturday, JP met one of his cross-country teammates at MBA mid-morning to go for a run. After I dropped him off, I picked up Joe and we drove to Christ the King to get some shots up, outside, before Joe's 11 a.m. game at J.T. Moore. Then, I drove him to the game. His Bucket Squad team lost a tough game to a decent team, one they likely would have beaten had Nash and Preston been there.
I drove JP back to MBA after Joe's game to play squash. Squash? One of his classmates, Charlie, has been playing and challenged JP to a game. As I understand it, JP lost all three games but every game was closer than the one before it.
It reminded me of my abbreviated squash career - on the squash courts at Vanderbilt - over a couple of weekends 20 + years ago. I triumphed in a Battle of the Sexes match - not unlike Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs - defeating Carrie Plummer, talking trash the entire time. John Scala - his name is a blast from the past - beat me in a couple of close games. My quads and hamstrings were so sore the next day that it hurt to sit on the toilet. I'm not even kidding.
Yesterday, I took Joe to a birthday party while Jude and JP went to church at St. Patrick. After grabbing a quick coffee from Steadfast Coffee in Germantown, I grabbed Joe early from the birthday party and drove him to a Braves' baseball practice at D-BAT. When we got home, I went for a run, then drove JP to baseball while Jude drove Joe to basketball.
Weekend sports' chauffeurs. I wouldn't have it any other way.
The best part of may weekend, though, other than the two runs, was helping at Joe's baseball workout at D-BAT. My friend, Scott McRae, who is coaching this spring, has 23 or 24 boys on the roster. Enough for two teams. He's going to need some help coaching and I'm happy to provide it whenever possible.
Yesterday, Scott didn't have any help, so he asked me if I would throw short toss to half of the boys in one of the batting cages while he worked with the other half on pitching and fielding. It felt so damn good to be sitting on a stool behind the screen, throwing soft toss to boy after boy. Most of them I knew and had coached but some I didn't.
Throwing batting practice or soft toss, for that matter, is so special to me. It's a change to get one-on-one time with a boy and make a real connection with him. I can drop a word or two of encouragement and really make a difference in how he sees himself as a baseball player or, maybe, as a person. In short, it's a chance to make a difference in a boy's life with a brief, meaningful interaction. I can learn so much about a boy's personality and his competitive makeup by throwing batting practice in the cage. It's the best.
On top of that, Joe was absolutely raking yesterday. I think the weekly practices with his HBC team are paying off. It was awesome to throw soft toss to him and to have a front row seat as he hit ball after ball hard and with authority. Joe's getting a seriousness about him when it comes to putting the work in and I'm very happy to see that. School work, sports, and helping around the house. It's a sign of maturity for him, I think.
After the longest of long weeks at work, particularly Thursday and Friday, I desperately needed the weekend respite with my family. Hanging with the boys, and Jude, rejuvenates me and reminds me why I go to the office every day and pound the rock, so to speak.
I'm so blessed as a father and as a man.
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