Catching Up: It’s Just About… Life.

It’s just two people, a ball and two gloves. But sometimes that’s all you need to reconnect.

For most of this cold, snowy winter Emily has stood by while her big sister Sophie has taken center stage, literally, and figuratively with a theater production, voice lessons, tryouts and eventual acceptance into the arts and technology high school she so badly wanted to attend. All great accomplishments, all demanding of our family’s time, efforts and attention. Sophie has been on a roll.

In the meantime Emily did what Emily does. Soldier on – earning straight A’s in her first year in Middle School, making new friends, reconnecting with some others she hadn’t seen since pre-school and fully integrating into becoming a tween. But as the weather warms and the calendar turns to Spring, it’s Emily’s turn to catch up.

And all it took was a simple game of catch to do it. Just the other day she and I headed outside to start warming up for softball, Emily’s fifth season since she started back at age 7, hitting a ball off a tee. Actually, I’m not sure she ever did that part, she could swing and connect even then, without the aid of that plastic stand, just one of the reasons we decided to enroll her in the first place, the kid has talent. Eye-hand coordination and the brains to play smart.

But it was that simple game of catch, the first since the calendar turned to late fall and the cold gripped this part of the country, that Emily and I really got the chance to reconnect. There we were again, tossing that ball back and forth and feeling the warmth of a pre-Spring afternoon and the easy conversation and banter that comes with that simple act. And it’s just the beginning. I look forward to being there to help coach Emily’s team over these next few months. But maybe most of all I look forward to this ritual of catch on our front yard, the batting practices on a nearby school diamond and especially the one-to-one car rides we will take to and from the softball fields.

The game of baseball/softball has no clock, but the clock is always ticking on my time with Emily and the moments like these. We all know life is more than just a game, but I’ll take this game and my time with my baby any chance I get.

Until next time, thanks for taking the time.

Mark

Mark Brodinsky, Author
It Takes 2. Surviving Breast Cancer: A Spouse’s Story
#1 Amazon Best-Seller
www.spouses-story.com
markbrodinsky@gmail.com