Be Happy

I'm up very early this morning--early enough to see blue light oozing through the blinds--soon it will turn to orange light, then yellow. I'm craving a cup of coffee but can't take myself away from my chair to get up and make some. I can't deal with the delay in satisfaction right now. Plus, I might disrupt the quiet of the house. Ryan is an early bird like me, and he wakes up ready to watch TV, play computer games, or anything he can get me to do with him. I'm just realizing this may be one reason I haven't been blogging lately--working much longer hours into the night, then waking up to an energetic 7-year-old.

Even baseball hasn't sapped his energy--last night they had the first game of a weekend tournament. We were getting the boys ready to play and we were two boys short of the number needed-the coach called their homes--one of them had suddenly become sick, and the other had forgotten about the game. Our coach, Lance, screamed at the mother of the forgetful boy to get him up here right away. I mean, he literally screamed at her. Unbelievable.

He approached the other coach who told us, "Let's just play the game...I want my boys to play." I thought that was pretty generous because some teams were forced to forfeit and play in the "Losing" bracket of the tournament because they didn't have enough boys to play.

Shorthanded, we still beat them 12-2.

After the game, the other coach came up to us and said "So, how do we decide who won? Are we just going to go by the score?"

Incredulous, Lance replied, "Well, yeah." I guess the other guy was having second thoughts about his generosity and wanted to see if he could take it back after the fact.

I put Ryan to bed, and he was talking about one of the other coaches on his team yelling at the boys. I asked him "Do you think he was really mad at you?"

"Yes."

I told him "Ryan, he almost certainly wasn't mad. Sometimes the dads get very intense because they want you guys to do well. It's more fun if you play well. Besides, that dad is a coach for older kids, and maybe it is frustrating to him to see the mistakes that younger kids make...but he isn't mad at you." (thinking to myself: he does seem to be short with the kids an awful lot).

Ryan: "But, Dad, you don't get that way with us." (a big relief to me--I do get excited sometimes during the drama of their games, but try to keep everything positive).

I replied "Ryan, to me these games are supposed to be fun. I just want you to grow up and have happy memories of when you were seven. Maybe playing baseball will be one of those things for you, like it was for me. Maybe not. I just want you to be happy and have fun."

"I am happy, Dad. I'll always remember how much fun we have together."

I guess that means I'm doing something right...