West Cocoa Chat

I’m calling my 15 year old son Steven, “the patient” because he has contracted the same “sickness” that his Uncle Greg has, an abnormal lust for guitars. Actually it warms my heart to see Steven so taken to a musical instrument that his Uncle Greg uses to bless others as well. Steven has only had 7 lessons but already he is beginning to “make up songs.” He played one of those songs last night for Barbara and me. The best part was when he told us that “he could easily make a Christian song out of it.” It’s always been my prayer that Steven’s music would not only lead him to a closer walk with the Lord but like his Uncle “Typhoid” Greg, he would one day use it to bless and encourage others. He did that last night for his mother and me.

If music soothes the savage heart then Steven’s music last night soothe my aching arm. Steven isn’t playing a fall sport this year so I took him down to our local Little League Field batting cage. I want his “batting eye” to stay sharp until the baseball team starts conditioning in a month or so. That’s right my northern friends, we play and practice baseball in Florida almost year round.

Being in the batting cage at the Little League field with my son brought back a lot of memories. We were the only ones in the cage and there wasn’t anyone on any of the four fields. Yet I could hear all the voices of the kids that I had coached, the All Star Teams that I had helped with, and the different parents that I had coached with since Steven was eight. Most of the memories were good especially the summer of Steven’s 10th year when our 9 and 10 team came within 2 games of winning the State Championship. And there was the team Steven was on when he was 12 that lost only one game and went on to win the County Championship. Steven pitched and played shortstop on that team.

But most of all it was just good to be in the cage with my son who is closer to leaving my home and influence than he is to all of those memories that I just mentioned. I threw about 200 pitches to him as well taking the time to talk to him about baseball and life in general.

If you have little ones, hang on to those times for as long as you can because before you know it, they’ll be saying things to you like, “Come on Dad, can’t you throw any faster.”