A smile for a baseball

 

My Facebook friends will see this picture and say, "You posted this already," but I'm more than happy to share it here.

As it says, it was eight years ago today. The site was Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, PA home of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Sean, Tim, Jason, and I were there as part of our "Breakfast, Baseball, Burgers, Bargains, Beer (if that's your thing), and Basically anything" day.

I had convinced Jason of the wonders of Waffle House in Florida in 2007 and soon Tim joined us for a day to behold. It grew a little each year that we did it and the fourth person in our vehicle tended to revolve. In this case, Sean was the lucky soul.

So after breakfast at Waffle House and some bargains down in Reading (gone forevermore...moment of silence...) we came back to the stadium for the game. Our seats were in the first row down the third base line.

It was only the first inning when a foul ball made its way on the dirt near us. I reached over the wall, trying to be a good dad...only to feel the horsehide sphere spin out of my fingers on my left hand.

Momentarily, I watched dejectedly as it rolled away. I expected to be lustily booed, including by my friends and son.

And then a ball girl (remember them?) trotted over and picked it up. Surely she wouldn't give it to the dunce who registered "E-Daddy" on the scorecard?

She did indeed.

With pride, as I thanked her, I put the ball exactly where it belonged: in Sean's hand.

He beamed. So did I.

Tim took a picture and I took one as well. The grin was true and ear to ear. I also love how I timed it just right where he's tossing it in his hand and it's levitating.

The details of the game aren't memorable otherwise, though I remember taking my IronPigs jersey that Jason bought me in Reading and putting my name and number on it. I still wear it occasionally and it makes me smile.

We finished the day with Golden Corral and Sean fell in love with that. A monster had been created.

In fact, those days all make me smile. We came away with stories and memories to last a lifetime. We visited ballparks in Reading, Lancaster, and Moosic (near Scranton) as well as a non-BBBBBB, etc trip to Brooklyn.

I miss those days.

And while I enjoy the man that kid has grown up into I'm sure I can be forgiven for missing that kid a little bit as well. One in a while, I sense that kid is still around.

He smiled as we recalled the story today.

It's special.

It's priceless. 

Enjoy it while it lasts.