by William J. Winslow
Most dads play catch with their kids and afterwards everything is great! I hope that my sons are always more successful than me at playing catch with their children.
My sons are just starting to play catch with their families and there are new children on the way.
You first roll the ball back and forth, under-hand lobs, over-hand tosses, then faster pitches…Little by little, the degree of difficulty of playing catch grows in intensity.
I used to feel that my dad taught me how to play catch when I was of a tricycle age.
I realize now that he must have started playing catch with me when I was much younger.
Dad had a large family to juggle, each child taking turns, but I feel that I monopolized the games. The sporadic nature of my timing for playing catch intensified during and after college.
My dad was still there to catch me even after a two hour daily commute to work. I was definitely wearing my father out.
After my dad passed, my older brother had the obligation to play catch with most of our family members.
Sometimes he was lucky to have other family members join in at key times.
You would hope that the intensity of playing catch would wane, but with age, new and bigger challenges take the field.
Now, I realize and understand that our whole family has learned how to play catch.
I started playing catch with my boys right from their birth. Unfortunately, my time to play catch with my boys was not divided evenly nor limited to just them, but I was trying to be there for everyone.
As the boys got older, many sessions were at night and very challenging, a few curves were thrown back to me, some of which I would fumble catching.
I had a quick conversation as I checked in with one son at midnight, he appeared to be fine.
He needed me before 4 a.m., he threw me a wild pitch, but I was not there to catch him. I am so, so sorry.
A professional ball player can miss hitting a pitch over 6 out of 10 tries and still make it to the Cooperstown Hall of Fame.
A parent who misses catching their son or daughter once, will spend a lifetime praying for a replay!
A home team advantage, coupled with an amazing fan base, can inspire even a mediocre team to succeed.
We are so thankful for the love and support that our community displayed to our whole “team” and family. Everyone is playing catch NOW!
“Catch me if you can!”