The change-up, the soft earth and the bluish-white sky...

TheFinalThird

I wrote this about a year and a half ago. Still makes me laugh to remember that day.

One of the joys of having a son who plays competitive baseball is working him out during the off-season. This morning was a beautiful time to get out onto the baseball diamond. Fifty-five degrees, warm sun, a cool breeze, and low humidity. After throwing about 30 minutes of batting practice to Jake in the cage, Jake, Lisa and I headed out onto the baseball field. Jake threw some long toss to me, then stepped onto the mound for about 30-40 pitches. After working his fastball and curveball, Jake commented that he had a new grip that he wanted to try for his change-up. He said he'd used it with a whiffle ball in the back yard, and wanted to see what it would do on the baseball diamond. I was sitting on a baseball bucket behind home plate and told him to let it rip, not knowing where the pitch was going to end up. I smacked my catcher's mitt with my fist nervously, ready for the ball to end up hitting my shins, going over my head, or some combination of the two. Jake wound up and delivered. The pitch started in the strike zone, but quickly dived to shin/ankle level. Knowing how much a pitched ball hurts an unprotected shin, I instinctively pulled my feet and legs backward, straddling the baseball bucket on either side. The natural result of that action was to shift my weight backward. Now, this would not have been a big deal except for one thing. The ground around home plate was soft from the earlier efforts of the highly efficient automatic sprinklers. The moist ground caused the back bottom rim of the baseball bucket to bite into the soft earth, tilting it ever so slightly backward. Well, not slightly. A lot, actually. I threw my arms out to the side, trying to keep my balance on the bucket to no avail. Within a second or two, I was watching Jake standing on the mound from a unique vantage point. Jake's face (with a look of shock and horror on it) was framed between my dirt-caked athletic shoes. I could still see my shoes, but Jake's face disappeared, replaced by the bluish-white sky that was dotted with early-winter clouds. As my back thudded against the ground, two thoughts occurred to me. (1) I was glad I put on my plush, soft sweatshirt and had the hood up over my head. (2) I couldn't remember how long it had been before today that I laid flat on my back and looked at the sky. Like a computer booting up, I did a quick systems check and realized that although I had fallen backward off the baseball bucket, I was not hurt. Partially out of relief, and partially out of the sheer ridiculousness of the mental image of my fall, I burst out in hysterical laughter. Hearing me laugh, Lisa and Jake joined in, and for about a minute, we all sat and laid around home plate laughing our heads off. It was a great minute.

BogQueen1

What a good memory to have. You should probably lay around and look at the sky more often. We probably all should.

HelenDootson

lik_11

nice family moment. we all need more of those