Day 68: Playing Ball at Jackie Robinson Stadium

What a fun night! On Friday the boys played baseball for their Palisades American Legion team at Jackie Robinson Stadium at UCLA. Talk about exciting! The last time I was at the stadium was 2 years ago for Harrison & Spencer's B'nai Mitzvah -- that was a night to never forget either. So there we were sitting in the stands on a beautiful summer night watching our twin boys swing the bat on the campus of UCLA, wow! Big dreams swirl around in your head when you see them play on a field like that!

Check out Spencer Simon in this photo, is that an image of a baller or what! As if he is tipping his helmet to his fans! This kid has got game for sure!

I remember watching Brandon play in his first college game up at Willamette University and breathing deep as I sat in the stands marveling at how large the field was. I remember thinking about how many times I had sat in the stands watching my three boys play baseball. Close to 15 years watching baseball. You gotta love the game to sit through that many games, or love your kids to the moon and stars and back again to sit through that many games. In my case it's both!

So there we were sitting in the stadium on campus at UCLA - the college team that's currently competing in the College World Series in Omaha and my boys were on their field. It was a proud Mama moment for sure.

Check out Harrison Simon swing the bat as a lefty. Check out those long legs, this kid is long and lean and so smooth!

The boys finally finished school this week and this baseball game took place on the first full day of summer... what a way to kick off summer. And the college boy was with me too ... I was able to steal a smooch!

Pictured here is Mama bear planting one on the college boy Brandon Simon.

Yesterday's post was about a colleague of mine whose son was murdered when robbers entered the store he was working at and shot him. I have not been able to shake thinking about her or her family. Wondering how they are doing and how much grief must be hanging in their hearts and home.

Our children are not perfect. They don't always live up to what we expect or make the choices we prefer. They don't always get straight As or hit the winning home run, or get into the best college. They loose things, make mistakes, get in trouble, disappoint their parents, but as I sat in the stands on Friday night nothing, I mean nothing, mattered for those two hours except that I was surrounded by my three healthy sons. It didn't matter if they won or lost the game, if they struck out or dropped the ball. They were alive and safe.

Again I send my sincerest condolences to the Butcher family and pray that no harm ever comes to their family again. They have taken the greatest loss, the loss of losing a child, that anyone is humanly expected to endure.