The first text came through while I was standing in the shop at All-Pro Automotive. Rick was being as gentle as he could telling me all the reasons my car didn’t pass its annual inspection. Thankfully, Rick has a good sense of humor and made me laugh as he relayed the bad news.
I am not a fan of cars. Those seven words could be etched on my gravestone. Or maybe I should just get a tattoo of that phrase.
Jamie and I have been married 22 years. We’ve had 16 cars during that span. Soon to be 17, I guess. My first desire after hearing Rick’s news was to take a bat to the vehicle. But my bat was at home. And I’d be more worried about the car doing damage to the bat than vice versa.
Then I remembered the text.
I am not usually a fan of group texts. I still have a flip phone. There have been times in the past when group texts have completely overwhelmed my phone and shut it down. But this phone only cost me $25. Which frees me to spend more money on car repairs. Life is funny like that.
The text.
Coach Nasby relayed the information for this season’s first game.
Sunday, August 11, Noon.
The Cyclones will kick off the fourth season of the Grip ‘N’ Rip Baseball League against the Naturals.
(Season tickets can be purchased here!)
A couple of my teammates chimed in and, for just a few moments, I completely forgot my car woes. I had no idea who the names or faces were behind the numbers, but I knew that they were teammates. Everyone was excited simply for the chance to play baseball again.
This is one of the beautiful parts of the game of baseball. Teammates pick up the guys who are struggling.
There are far too few parts of “real life” that encourage the positive aspect of the teammate mentality. Social media makes it so easy to divide and cut down other people rather than tap into the power of encouragement. Being negative is easy. It takes guts and work to choose hope every single day. Teammates — friends — are those incredible people in your life who help you keep your chin up and rise above the circumstances, walking with you through whatever storms life brings.
I have no idea what vehicle I’ll be driving on Sunday morning, but I’m looking forward to spending time back on the field with a bunch of guys who love and respect the game like I do. Those couple hours are going to help keep me sane moving forward into car-shopping territory.
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Dad tells stories with videos like I try to tell stories with words. He documented my efforts on Sunday and created this story. Though it’s quite humbling and embarrassing to see high school junior varsity skills on a 44-year old frame, it’s pretty neat to see how he pieced it together.
Of course, pretty much every baseball video is better with the Field of Dreams soundtrack as accompaniment.
