Yesterday, I spend the entire day with my son since he’s on Spring break. It was a father & son covalent bonding time (while mom & daughter had their own in Monterey). We started the morning with a nice brunch (hot dogs while mommy’s not looking!) while watching The Two Towers. I normally don’t watch movies, but after using a clip of it for yesterday’s Easter sermon, I was drawn to this precious movie. It’s an incredible story of hope and courage, never giving in to despair even when it seems hopeless. Every chance I got throughout the movie, I would tell my son of the importance of having courage and hope. I was a running commentary throughout, and for some parts, I was preaching!
Afterwards, I took him to the batting cages here in town; he’d been begging for it for a while, so today was the day! When I was his age, I was so into baseball (LA Dodgers of the 70’s) but I never got to play Little League or anything with real pitching. I just played catch on a dirt field behind our apartment complex with a couple of my friends. Sometimes, we would use a tennis ball and hit in the apartment garage — that was our batting cage. So seeing my son get to play with real baseballs with real pitches brings a big warm smile to my face. You might say I’m living out my childhood dreams through my son, and I’d say you may be right.
After five tokens worth of hitting, he asked if I wanted to give it a try. I was reluctant at first, partly because I didn’t want to look foolish striking out. After all, even I have some father ego to protect. But it didn’t take much to convince me to take a swing at it; in fact, I was secretly hoping that I’d get a chance! I did pretty well, and hit a good 0.700 average; yes, it was at the slowest pitch setting, but that doesn’t matter when you’re living out your 4th grade dreams…
What a coincidence! My house went to the batting cages yesterday too! That was actually my first time there. It looks very easy on TV, but when I tried it I realized it wasn’t that easy. I guess my ping-pong timing messed me up. But overall it was very fun. I tried the slow one and the fast one. I heard the fast one wasn’t that fast compared to the speed at the major league. That’s crazy… It must require incredible arm strength to swing that bat to keep up with the ball. Well anyway, now I think I know why people like baseball. I am glad you had a good time with your son.
hi birdchan,
I’m glad you guys enjoyed yourself there! Ping-Pong balls also travel very fast! But at least you get a big surface area to hit it with, so it’s easier. And if the ball hits you, we don’t get a big bruise either…well, except a bruised ego…
Pastor Jonathan