Baseball and Thankfulness

I'm just back from about six hours at the baseball field, and loved every minute. We had a double header scrimmage against another high school. It was lots of fun catching up with all the families. It was one of those strange weather nights - cold at 5:00, then kind of warmer, then colder and very foggy. Strange foggy.

Some of the parents arranged a cookout so there was lots of good food. Gosh, that first hotdog of the baseball season tastes good!

Lots of batters were hit by pitches - that's not unusual early in the season. Or mid-season. Or the end. It's always scary. One kid got beaned (baseball-speak for hit in the head/helmet), but luckily all those guys were all right. One kid who wasn't all right was a fielder for the other team who was hit in the mouth by a ball deflected off his glove while he was trying to field it. Two of his teeth were knocked out. The guys walked out to second base, where it happened, and kicked around in the dirt for about five minutes, and naturally did not recover the teeth. We didn't know what was going on, exactly, on the sidelines. We decided all the moms should have gone out and gotten down on our hands and knees and felt around for the teeth (how else could you find them in the dirt?) until we found them. Besides, can anyone with a Y chromosome ever find his socks, much less two little teeth in the dirt?

I don't mean to make light of this at all. We are praying for a speedy recovery. One of the dads said he was in the emergency room and they were waiting for an oral surgeon. Which brings me to the title of this post. I try to remember to be thankful at the end of every baseball game. Thankful for our strong, healthy, good boys. Thankful for a safe environment (including our beautiful ball field) and skilled coaches and supportive families. Thankful for the great education our boys are receiving. Thankful for all the great friends I've made over the past four baseball seasons.