This blog has gone in no direction that I thought it would
go. I had big plans of sharing recipes and my tips on gardening, instead, I
have written mostly thoughts about my life. Each entry is filled with my need
to live a simple life, getting back to basics and appreciating the things that
matter most. Well, this entry is not veering
too far from that either. Bear with this
gal, as I fumble my way through pulling this blog together to some sort of
cohesive space.
So this morning, I was repacking my cooler and snack tote of
goodies for our second day in a baseball tournament for the oldest boy. Waffles
will be on the breakfast menu today, I believe. I haven’t actually started
cooking because the need to write out this thought struck me and I hit the
computer to jot it down. The house is
quiet, Im enjoying coffee before the kids hit the floor running. We have an
extra kid for the night, a friend of my youngest son, a friendship foraged at
baseball parks and football fields.
I know this generation of kids is far advanced in technology
and video games. They will probably go down as the video game generation, even
though, I played Nintendo a time or two growing up myself. It’s this generation
where obesity rates are high and people believe kids no longer enjoy the outdoors.
Sure, there are some who would rather spend hours playing mock war on the
gaming systems but there are so many who do enjoy being outside. I have come to this conclusion as I was watching the oldest
boys double header baseball games yesterday. Tournaments are intense. These
boys go on the field to play ball and winning is what they are all after. Each
time at bat is a battle. They sweat in
the heat standing in the outfield waiting to make that perfect catch. Their uniforms are muddied from sliding into third. The
crowds are cheering. It’s never quiet at a ball game and off in the distance,
in a small patch of grass between ball diamonds is a group of kids playing
pickle. They are the younger brothers and sometimes sisters of the athletes on
the field. They are laughing, having a grand time running around outdoors. They
are wading in mud puddles and taking turns seeing who can spit sunflower seeds
the farthest. These are kids who may not go to the same elementary school but
they are building friendships all the same.
At my house, after the games at the fields have all ended,
the kids come home to eat and shower but they do not stay still long, soon they
have called over some friends. Wiffle ball is played in my yard until it’s too
dark to see the ball. It is then that the computers fire up and video games get
turned on. There is still hope in the younger generation. It warms my heart to know that fun is still
being had on American baseball fields and backyards, that friendships foraged with bonds of
dirt and mud puddles still exist, and that kids still enjoy sitting under a
tree and sharing a snack. I love that athletes are still battling it out on
fields across the world and younger siblings are looking up to those athletes
and wanting to be just like them. I love that when the street lights come
on, there are still moms out there yelling for their kids to wrap up a game and
to come inside. It is part of what life is all about, the simple enjoyment of
it all. Maybe next post I will blog about my homemade pasta recipe. It is
really simple, but the troops are starting to wake and breakfast needs to hit
the table.
