It’s easy to watch your son play baseball. It’s especially easy to watch your son’s team when they’re doing really well. It gets a little more difficult when their baseball team is not doing so well. This fall has been one of those times

Errors are things that happened. They happen because people are not ready for what’s coming. They happen because something on the inside is telling the person that they’re not ready for what’s coming at them. When an error happens it takes the wind out the sails of the entire team. I write this because there is something to be learned. This is neither an accusation nor is it a soapbox. Instead this is my way of reflecting on what I can do and how I can grow

This past Saturday was a playoff game. My son’s team was in the playoffs that was a great encouragement. They faced a team they have beaten in the season. By all rights they should have won easily. The first inning went by quickly nobody got any runs. The second inning the opposing team got one run and our team got six. What a great time jubilation and rejoicing. Then came the top of the third and one error after another floated out of our team. But the time the inning was over we were behind 9 to 6. We got one run the bottom of the third. It started to rain hard.

The top of the fourth was very much like the top of the third and the opponent got many more runs. Actually many more than I counted or cared to account. We finally got to the bottom of fourth and we got no more runs. The rain continued to soak the field . The umpire finally call the game. It was a merciful thing for the game to end.

I noticed different ways that I responded to the game and the boys responded to game as the game changed. The beginning of the game our team and our parents were psyched for a real win. As the game progressed we got more excited as our team did well. As our team started to falter we became more anxious. As the boys saw themselves falter you could see that day to were taking it harder the more stress they experienced and they were not performing as well.

It was interesting to note however, once the team was completely out of the running in the game the levels of anxiety and stress in myself and parents and the team themselves seem to dissolve. Everybody was getting soaked watching our team players and yet it was okay. We were together supporting our sons and her grandsons and our team.

I learned that day that though wins are fun they’re not everything. What is most important is being together, lifting each other up, and learning what we can from losses. Sometimes we learn more from our losses than we do from our wins. Often times that’s the case. In fact I think it’s easier to learn from losses than wins. We often assume our wins and we learn from the pain of loss. Would I have rather have seen my son win? Absolutely! Would he rather have won? Yes! But we have what we have and that’s good enough. It’s actually very good.