Thursday, August 11, 2005
Shock and Awe
Forgive me for borrowing President Bush’s phrase for the opening stages of The War for Iraqi Freedom. First for the "awe;" my son Steven is desperately wanting to make the varsity baseball team at our local high school. I was told by one of the assistant coaches this past season that Steven (who was a freshman this past year) came very close to making the varsity squad. The only holdback according to this coach was his small size. As someone once said, you can’t coach size.
Now Steven is a sophomore about ready to begin winter conditioning. He’s been conditioning on his own with a little (very little) help from Dad. This is the part of his personality that at times inspires awe in me. When he sets his mind to something he is a very determine individual. Take today for instance; we had planned to go to the batting cages again (yes Randy, Walker would have been back on the mound) but we were rained out. So when we arrived home, Steven took out his bat and took 100 swings with it.
Now for the "shock;" my son decided he needed some pitching practice so he improvised a backstop complete with a target. He threw 60 pitches at his "target" and was so impressed with his ingenuity he wanted to share his creation with me. When I walked outside I discovered my son’s invention was our 6 foot step ladder propping up one of our better pieces of luggage! You might say that I was experiencing shock and awe at the same time. I asked him why he choose the luggage as his target. He looked at me incredulously as he pointed out that the luggage was about the same height of a squatting catcher and that the upper outside pocket formed (in his eyes) an almost perfect strike zone. Silly me. A big part of me wanted to offer advice and correct him or at least protect our luggage for 80mph fastballs. I will credit to the Holy Spirit for allowing me to listen to the voice inside that said praise your son for his spirit and determination. I wonder if "Samsonite" (not sure on the spelling) needs an idea for a luggage commercial?
Now Steven is a sophomore about ready to begin winter conditioning. He’s been conditioning on his own with a little (very little) help from Dad. This is the part of his personality that at times inspires awe in me. When he sets his mind to something he is a very determine individual. Take today for instance; we had planned to go to the batting cages again (yes Randy, Walker would have been back on the mound) but we were rained out. So when we arrived home, Steven took out his bat and took 100 swings with it.
Now for the "shock;" my son decided he needed some pitching practice so he improvised a backstop complete with a target. He threw 60 pitches at his "target" and was so impressed with his ingenuity he wanted to share his creation with me. When I walked outside I discovered my son’s invention was our 6 foot step ladder propping up one of our better pieces of luggage! You might say that I was experiencing shock and awe at the same time. I asked him why he choose the luggage as his target. He looked at me incredulously as he pointed out that the luggage was about the same height of a squatting catcher and that the upper outside pocket formed (in his eyes) an almost perfect strike zone. Silly me. A big part of me wanted to offer advice and correct him or at least protect our luggage for 80mph fastballs. I will credit to the Holy Spirit for allowing me to listen to the voice inside that said praise your son for his spirit and determination. I wonder if "Samsonite" (not sure on the spelling) needs an idea for a luggage commercial?
