Laying Tile and Playing Baseball

Today I had on my list to lay the rest of the ceramic tile for the kitchen floor (I didn’t finish last time due to a nail through the foot) and to try to take the kids to the park for some baseball/blitzball hitting. I worked a little this morning seeing clients and then dutifully laid the tile, but then had a couple of hours before I needed to grout so off to the ball field we went. A bunch of kids ended up playing with us, 5 innings. I was pitching and Gareth came up to bat in the bottom of the last innings. 2 outs, bases loaded, tied game. First I threw a 4-seemer right down the middle and he missed swinging. The second pitch was a slider (which he rarely hits) but I hung it belt high over the middle third and he smacked into right field for a walk-off single. We had an old bat none of us use and a box full of baseballs, so we left the extra bat and a couple of balls to the kids who joined us could keep playing.

America's Pastime
The crack of the bat and the snap of the glove
The slide into home and the friendly shove
The umpire doing the punchout dance
Bottom of the ninth, pitcher taking a chance
"Hey batter batter", and "we want a pitcher"
A little white leather and 108 stitches
Bring kids and adults to watch and play
And enjoy the light breeze on a Spring day
This world might be full of hate and dispair
But out there on the field the kids don't care
There's no age, no race, no us and no them
Sometimes there's no names, just fast friends
And if there's any division, it's home and away,
But that doesn't stop a good game
From passing the time on a sunny Spring day.

Almighty God, bless the hearts of children that they might never grow to hate as adults hate but rather grow to love as you have loved. And if you have any grace leftover for baseball. . .my Astros could really use it right now. Amen.