If you’ve been here before, you know I frequently blog about my son Jack because of his autism, or my wife Tiffany because she’s my everything, but I don’t really talk about my other two kids a whole lot. Well yesterday, I took my son Benjamin to the Cardinals-Padres game in San Diego, and he did some things I knew I had to blog about.
Ben’s favorite player is Skip Schumaker of the Cardinals. We have a personal connection to him, so Ben roots for him and likes to watch him play. Once a year, we head down to San Diego to watch the Cardinals play. This year, that day was yesterday. We arranged to have him say hi to Ben during batting practice, and Ben was pretty excited. What 9-year-old wouldn’t be excited about saying hi to a real baseball player while he’s on the field?
It was an afternoon game, so we pulled him out of school early. Does it get any better than leaving school early to go to a baseball game? I guess it does if your favorite baseball player says hi to you!
After taking the picture, the funniest thing happened and I’ll be able to tease Ben about it in 50 years.
When Skip was done with his warmup throws, he caught Benjamin’s attention to throw him a ball. He threw it, Ben caught it, cool deal. Kids always get a kick out of getting a ball at a game. Skip immediately ran out to second base to do his fielding drills and Ben turned to me and said something like, “Uh-oh, he’s running away and I have his ball. How am I going to get it back to him? Doesn’t he need this?” Someday he won’t have such innocent thoughts. Fortunately, that day wasn’t yesterday!
He was on cloud 9 when he found out he got to keep the ball. Totally made his day/week/month, and I’m sure he’ll get some cool points at school when he tells his friends the story today.
We went to the game with my dad and had a great time. Ben just rattled off everything that made it fun — peanuts, lemonade, nachos, popcorn, brownies … he also applied a lot of the things he’s been learning in school.
“Daddy, what do you think the total area of the playing field is? What about the perimeter?” Ahhh, that’s my boy. A geek just like his dad. A geek just like his grandpa.
We had a great time together at the game. I was tempted to not go, because Benjamin has been misbehaving lately, but I figured this was his one chance for the year to watch the Cardinals and I didn’t want to wreck a potential memory. I know he’ll look back on this trip to the stadium for years and years. If I would have had an experience like that when I was 9, it would still be something I recall fondly.
On the way back, we stopped off at Pei Wei for dinner and Ben got a kick out of the digital drink fountain. When we were finally on the 75-mile drive back, we called home to talk to Ava, my 5-year-old daughter. The conversation those two had was amazing. Ben went on and on about the ball and the game and everything he ate. He was excited to tell her he picked her up a fortune cookie from Pei Wei. He told her to look out the window, because he was going to prove to her that there was only one sun.
Ava said, “OK, can I ask you one question?” Ben was fine with that. “Can I hang up now?”
Me and my dad were cracking up at their randomness. I don’t know what goes on in their minds, but it’s pretty funny sometimes. All-in-all, it was a great day, a much-needed escape. Today is a snap back into reality, highlighted by a horrendous meltdown from Jack this morning and a ton of work on my plate at the office.
Yesterday is gone, but we’ve got great memories that will last until our memories fail us.
Jackie says
I love that. It’s the bothers and sisters of our special little ones that have the hardest jobs. It’s always good to remind them they are special too.
Way to be an awesome dad!
Tina Seina says
Love the 3 generation picture! What a great memory for all of you!