Blessings on Easter

When I got up this morning I knew it was going to be a perfect day. Don’t ask me how but I’m sure it had something to do with not needing a quilt on the bed last night and the smell of coffee already wafting down the hall and my sweet pup’s wet nose waiting patiently on the bed for a pat on the head. All those things can bring so much pleasure to me before I ever even step a foot on the floor. I laid there thinking about the games we had already played and the game coming up and how tough every win has been and how hard the boys are working. It made me so prideful as I reflected on yesterday and all the great things that happened in that game. Greg Blake was just incredible at the plate powering ball after ball over the fence. It was beautiful, and how great was it when Kobly Epley laced one out and his mamma was sitting there with her grandbaby in her lap and couldn’t stand up – I stood taller for you Janet because I know what it meant to you for him to hit that homerun. And for the entire Leeds family to be in town to see Matt’s great weekend performance and Knox, and Schiller, and Brittle, and Huttie’s families all there for their games and to see what really great players they all are.

Do you ever have to pinch yourself and say is this really real? I know it sounds corny but this morning I again said I am going to really focus on living in the moment. Maybe I am getting weird(er) as I get old(er) (and oh yeah you better not let me find out who issued that happy birthday message at the field or bad things will happen-you should know me well enough to know that I hate being singled out like that) but I swear I keep thinking about how important it is to make sure I FEEL what is happening. I don’t want to worry about what game I am going to on Wednesday when I’m at Sunday’s game because I want to see and feel and be ‘in’ every moment. I wanted to see Rob’s face today when he came home and the pitcher barked back at him, I want to hear the crazy words that Chris Campbell can come up with when he is heckling. Today was the best Chris when you said ‘Hey Pitch, I’ve seen a snake with a better arm than you.” Now that is good stuff. Do you have a book of those one liners because I certainly haven’t ever heard them before? I want to be able to hear the grunting sound the pitcher makes when he comes slamming off the mound but more than anything I want to be in the moment my son makes a great play. I don’t know if there is a way to describe what it feels like when a mother is watching an amazing thing happen at the hands of her son but I am going to try and recap it here:

High fly ball comes soaring through the air to the outfield, it is right center, I watch the ball, I watch Cole, and I have a moment of uncertainty that the ball is uncatchable. Then I look back at him and he is running like a wild animal as fast as his legs will carry him, it’s still coming and he is still going and then he projects himself-how he knows when the right second is to leave the ground I will never know but he is laid out flying through the air with arms fully extended, I steal one more look at the ball as it lands in his glove before he slams into the ground. I realize I have been holding my breath the entire time and it is now ok to exhale because he gets up and starts off the field. With this catch he garnered the third out of the inning and kept GA Southern from going ahead. The stands went wild. This was truly one of the catches of his life and worthy of an ESPN highlight. This is the way it read in the post game notes ‘Rakar caught a ball in center field to end the inning’.

See how much value there is to living in the moment. You just can’t get it from the game notes or from someone telling you about it. You have to see it and feel it yourself. I want to hold my breath and almost cry sometimes because I am so filled up with pride for my son. So when people say to me – you are crazy for going to all these games I just smile and think- you don’t know what it feels like to catch a fly ball at the fence to save the game and I do.

We swept GA Southern 3-0

Wednesday we head to USC

See you at the field.