Dear lady at the ball diamond… Thank you!

We are now in our 4th summer with children. We endure all the sand, the sweaty, messy hair, the endless snacks and our front door is always wide open. Every summer, with two boys, gets more and more exciting. They get to experience and learn more, which makes family outings much more enjoyable. It is way more fun for my husband and I to plan and enjoy things, when we see the enjoyment through their eyes as well. Granted, majority of the time, we just pack up the bass boat and end up fishing on the water for 80% of our day, but still, it’s all new and fun and exciting. Yayyy parenting!

Another first this summer for us is, we have begun bringing our boys to our baseball games, at a local park, with a huge central play structure. Our game times are always 6:30, 7:45 or 9pm at night. We started out by bringing them to our 6:30 games and it has been fairly successful. Even despite quick dashes to the bathroom for an unexpected #2 or momma yelling from the infield to the play structure at one little Crook. This little Crook did not think I was watching. Little does he know, my eyes are always surveying the scene and caught him in the middle of a sand fight. Some nights we stay way later than we should and we feel all the glares from the “perfect” parents. Really they should just be thankful we deal with them in the morning, and not them.

We tested the waters the other night and brought them to the 7:45pm game, knowing we were playing with fire. They were actually really enjoying it as usual, but the littlest Crook was having a hard time leaving my side and had a case of the tired silly’s.

Remember that time when it felt like parents could just leave their children anywhere and everywhere and some village would magically help raise them?! I was the child in this scenario, so I don’t fully recall it, but I bet it was beautiful. As I sat on second base and watched him cheekily creeping through the fence on to the field, all I could think was where the hell is my village? Can someone please give that random three year old shit? Then I remembered, oh right, they’re sitting on the sidelines judging that ridiculous mother for bringing her over tired toddler to the ball diamond.

I gave my #momyell from second base, to which he willingly obeyed and ran to jump up on the bleacher with a thud and a tumble. The tears started and I saw this angel appear. I had seen her out of the corner of my eye for the last couple minutes watching him like a hawk and laughing at him and smiling at me. And just like she knew what I was thinking, she walked over and comforted him. She put his shoes back on and kept him company on the bleachers while mommy and daddy finished up their inning.

People do not understand how much little moments like this mean to moms. I love when my child gets comforted from people other than me. I love when my kids get scolded from people other than me. Do you? Is this weird?

Our game ended and we hung around the diamond for a little longer while they had some water, had a snack and the oldest still played around the play structure. The littlest Crook was still attached to my hip while we acted silly together because A. it’s summer B. I had a beer and I was feeling a tad silly too C. it was a beautiful night out and D. because we frigging wanted to. A couple minutes passed and he went to happily run away from me when tumble and thud again. This time, it was followed by loud cries as he scuffed up his knees for the 92nd time this summer and from what I assume, the whole ball diamond turned and stared at us.

Ugh, OK fine we get it, time to go home! Where was my angel lady when SHE could have just swept in and everyone would have thought SHE was the trash mom with the beer in hand, picking the toddler up off the ground? We got home and put our dirty, tired out, happy & fulfilled kids to bed. The littlest Crook woke up in the morning and asked “Mommy, remember the time we went and watched mommy and daddy play ball?” with a big smile on his face and everything was instantly worth it. So thank you dear lady at the ball diamond for stepping in and making our night a little easier. As a mom who likes to break the boundaries of today’s society, you were truly a life saver.