Thank Goodness I'm Not Here

I can't stand Little League Baseball. I used to imagine myself sitting in the stands, cooler of drinks for the team nearby, video camera charged and ready to record my sons first home run.  I would go to every game.  I would make comprehensive and detailed scrapbooks filled with pictures and clippings.  I would be the best Baseball Mom ever.

But I live in Idaho.  And Baseball, in the spring, in Idaho - is terrible.  It's always freezing cold - it's usually snowing or raining - and I guarantee you this, the wind will be blowing.  

And, as if the god awful weather isn't enough to drive me nuts, there's the game.  Have you ever watched 7, 8 & 9 year olds play baseball?  Here's what they can't do:  Hit, throw, catch.  So it makes the game a little tedious, to say the least.

The boys are very interested in the grass, the boogers in their left nostril and the snack after the game.  (Let's just be glad the boogers are not the after game snack.)  Here's what they're not interested in:  The coach, the other players, the location of the ball.

Now I'm sure that this isn't true for all Baseball Mom's.  I bet Alex Rodriguez's mom had a perfectly lovely time sitting in the sun watching her son hit home run after home run.  I sat in a howling storm, the sleet pelting my face, watching my son lose his glove, "cup check" another kid and eat an entire bag of sunflower seeds - shells and all.

So, when it came time to sign up for baseball this year, I conveniently lost the registration form, and then just didn't bring it up again.  

To be perfectly honest, had my son asked about baseball...had he even mentioned it to me...I probably would have caved and signed him up.  But he didn't.  See, I think he likes the idea of playing baseball as much as I loved the idea of him playing it.  But the reality didn't match our expectations.  I don't think he even enjoyed it a little bit - of course there's no way he enjoyed it less than I did.  

I'm ready for football season.  I'll go to endless swim meets.  And I'm glad he will continue to take golf lessons.  I have this image in my mind of the two of us, strolling along a perfectly groomed course, sharing a bottle of water and a laugh.  Of course, we live in Idaho, so it will probably be snowing - and I guarantee you this, the wind will be blowing.