I walked out on my balcony / porch / whatever this evening. The weather is shitty, but not cold. Windy, confused. Grey and temperamental. There is a woman helping a little girl roller blade down the street and a little league game going on in the field across the way. How good does it feel to see and experience people DOING things. In whichever capacity that happens to be.
I spent some time watching the game. A solid pitch came across the plate and the opposing batter hit that sucker, line drive, right to the 2nd baseman. The runner on second ran to third. The ball got through the 2nd baseman. The runner then continued on to home. The center fielder promptly picked up the ball, and rather than chase the batter around the bases. Home. Allowing more of the runners to progress forward, he threw it back to the 2nd baseman, who then threw it to the pitcher. Suddenly, in the midst of what was a fine play. Nothing amazing, but nothing horrible, a (what I can only assume was the father) man stood up from the stands. Behind the fence, in what looked like a SF Giants jacket, "Hey, what are you thinking? Get it in! What are you thinking?" Implying the center fielder should have thrown it home, attempting to get the runner out. News flash buddy. It's little league. It's one run. The runner was half way home anyway. Why, on God's green earth would you take such a fine and simple play, in the middle of this moment on a Monday night and make a negative comment? Why? You undoubtably made the kid feel bad for himself. You scolded him, on something so completely stupid, in front of everyone. Why? What's the need? And who knows dad, maybe, just maybe he did exactly what the coach told him to do in that particular situation. You don't know. ....
I hope, pray, that I will never ever take something so lighthearted and joyous like a little league baseball game, and turn it into an experience my children will never want to participate in again.
Getting back to why life is amazing, we NEVER know what is going to happen. What lessons we are going to learn. Who we are going to meet. What is more fun and unexpected than life? ??? Although, according to Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman), from the movie Hook, "Death is the only real adventure." .....