The title of the book recommendation TOTALLY leads perfectly into the Words of Wisdom this month.
This is technically for June, so ignore the publish date.
June got away from me a bit…
*Warning*
Proud-dad moments are coming…
Book Recommendation
A couple years ago, I went through a big WWII period of my life where I read A LOT of books that covered WWII. These were both fiction and non-fiction books about this time period.
For those who have read these posts before, you’ll know that my grandparents survived WWII in the Netherlands, and then, after the war, came here to America.
I am fascinated with what my grandparents were able to overcome and saddened by the indescribably tragedies.
I took a break from those, because it all gets pretty depressing, pretty quickly.
During a recent trip to visit my childhood best friend and his family, his wife recommended this book to me, so I gave it a try.
I enjoyed it very much, and if you haven’t read it already, I hope you enjoy it, too.
All The Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr is historical fiction, and it makes me wonder what kinds of stories exist that we’ll never know about and were going on during this chaotic time in world history.
Words of Wisdom
Alright, I warned you… to make it through this next part, you’re going to need to endure a lot of proud-dad moments.
Jared is my son. He is 8 years old.
He has been playing baseball for a few years now, and this past season was with a whole new team after he moved up an age division.
This year was also his first year of kid pitch and, as you can imagine, there are a lot of walks as pitchers learn to throw strikes.
There are a lot of batters swinging at balls way over their heads as they learn what a strike zone is.
There are plenty of moments where kids are rolling around in the outfield, completely oblivious to a real-life game happening.
It is wonderful.
There is a long backstory here that involves him trying to pitch earlier in the season and the other team scored 6 runs on him, sending him into a mental state where he didn’t think he was a good pitcher or a good player, and made him question whether he wanted to keep playing baseball.
It doesn’t matter that those runs were scored on 3 errors from others.
He just saw the score and was sad.
Tournament Time
Well, two weeks ago, his team qualified for the season-ending tournament where the top two teams in his league would represent the local high school district at a multi-league tournament where the top two teams from five other high school districts attended as well.
In this tournament, pitchers are only allowed to throw a certain number of pitches, and then they have to stop.
This helps prevent teams that have an all-star pitcher, or a couple all-star pitchers, from just throwing him all game, every game.
Well, over the course of a 3 day tournament, with multiple games, teams start running out of kids who can pitch.
Our team had two great pitchers (the coach’s kids) that got us through the regular season and are amazing little players.
But, in this tournament, our coach had to find other kids who could pitch because of those pitch limits.
Enter Jared.
More Backstory
After Jared’s unfortunate pitching debut I referenced earlier, he and I would go to our front yard, I’d pace off the distance to the pitching mound, and I’d have him pitch to me, giving him pointers that my former-pitcher-self used to practice.
He and I would drive to the local fields and he would pitch from the real mound when no one else was there.
Jared happens to be a lot like his dad when it comes to sports.
He’s a perfectionist, and was often in tears if he threw 3 or 4 balls in a row outside the strike zone.
It’s hard to see the big picture when we’re young.
It’s hard to see the big picture when we’re not young.
He and I spent hours practicing, not knowing whether or not he’d get another chance to pitch.
Back to the Tournament
His team had built a small lead with one inning to go in their first-round game.
The coach asked if I would warm Jared up because Jared was going to pitch next inning.
He and I went to the side of the field and he started throwing to me.
Once he felt like he was warmed up, I asked if he was excited.
He said, “Dad, what if they score a bunch of runs and we lose?”
I said, “Jared, they won’t. Just pretend it’s me and you playing catch out there.”
Once he got in, I think I was more nervous than he was.
His first two pitches were balls. This is usually where he starts to get discouraged.
But this time, he proceeded to strike the next two guys out.
The third hit a ground ball and was thrown out at first.
Jared’s team won the game.
His coach gave him the game ball because of his efforts.
The Next Day
Jared was on Cloud 9.
His coaches, his teammates, the parents of the other kids, the grandparents of the other kids… everyone was complimenting him about not just his pitching, but his fielding, hitting, and all aspects of his game.
I wish I could say that the same thing happened the next day.
They had another game, and the last inning rolls around, with a eerily similar situation.
His team has a lead. The other players are out of pitches. Jared needs to come close it out.
Luckily, my wish was granted, and Jared dominated for the second day in a row.
The other team was not only unable to score a run on his watch, they didn’t even get a runner on base.
His team won, and he did amazing.
The Fallout
Jared’s team ended up taking second place, losing in the championship game.
Jared is now obsessed with baseball (remember how he was on the verge of quitting?).
He watches YouTube videos of the Little League World Series all the time.
He asks questions about things that happen in those games that don’t make sense to him yet.
He watches videos on how to throw faster and hit better.
More importantly (and selfishly), he says the three words every sports dad wants to hear, pretty much every day:
“Wanna play catch?”
I even introduced him to The Sandlot for the first time.
The Point
There are two points really.
Number 1: You Are Amazing
A friend of mine told me that having kids is like a second chance to live life all over again.
The little things become big things again, and this is definitely the case.
I imagine that having grandkids is a 3rd go at life, this time with all the mistakes out of the way, which is why grandparents are the best 🙂
It’s really hard for Jared to see how talented he is.
It’s hard for him to see the progress he makes after a week of practicing something, and then a month, and then a year.
Sometimes I just want to grab him by the shoulders, look him in the eyes, and tell him, “Why can’t you understand how amazing, and beautiful, and perfect you are?!”
And then, when they are in bed and sleeping, I’ll go through my day and focus on what I could’ve done better. Maybe even think that I failed because I didn’t exercise, or didn’t eat well, or didn’t say or do the right thing. Maybe you feel this way sometimes, too.
So… this is my virtual, grabbing you by the shoulders, looking you in the eyes, and saying, “You are amazing, beautiful, and perfect.”
There is all that light inside of you that you cannot see!
See what I did there? The book title?
Too on the nose?
Point Number 2: My Greatest Accomplishment
My life up until 22 years old was sports and athletics.
They defined who I was. They made me who I am.
Thanks to parents, coaches, and teammates, I’ve been able to accomplish some truly remarkable things in the sports world.
But… if someone were to ask me today what I think is my greatest athletic achievement, I can proudly say,
“This guy.”
Hey, if you made it this far, you are an impressive reader.
I am long-winded… less so with speaking, more so with writing.
Thank you for reading!
Erik
If you like reading books. Or, if you like reading about my odd-ball takes on life, subscribe to this blog. Could be a good time.
Erik Soderborg 