I play a
card and dice board game called, 'APBA Baseball'. One can use players/teams
from any era in baseball history, but my interest lately has been with teams
from the 1970's.
The other day I
was playing a game with the 1975 Reds when Ken Griffey came to bat. For some
reason, my mind left the current game on the tabletop and jumped to a time when
Griffey was near the end of his career, specifically 1990. At that time he was
with the Seattle Mariners and he and his son made history when they became the
first father/son tandem to play together in a major league baseball game.
My youngest son
turns 16 next month. Ryan is a sophomore in high school and truly an amazing young
man. He recently began taking driver's ed. classes and with that, he and I have started
doing some practice driving.
During one of
our recent outings there was a quiet moment in between instruction. There was
no radio noise, no oncoming traffic, not a sound other than the soft humming of
the engine. I looked over at him and felt a lightning bolt hit me, one filled
with parental pride. I was sitting next to my incredible son. He was embarking
on yet another stage of growing up. Another stage within the countless number
that I've been fortunate enough to witness first hand.
What did Ken
Griffey feel when he looked over from his adjacent position in the outfield to
see his son standing there? I'm sure it had to be pride.
Perhaps Griffey
had flashbacks to earlier times as I often do, such as one that saw his son as
an infant learning to crawl, as a toddler giggling in reaction to a read aloud
book, as an elementary school student unloading his book bag after school, as a
Little Leaguer putting on his uniform, or as a high schooler sitting at a desk
in his bedroom, immersed in homework.
I first saw my
son on February 26th, 1999. It was unequivocal love at first sight, the kind of
love that is not only unconditional, but indescribable as well. In those first moments
that I held him, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride. That pride resonates
today, as it has every other day for the past 16 years.
Today, even when I'm
fully immersed in a board game in an otherwise empty home, my mind jumps to my
children. They are with me all of the time, even when they're not with me
physically.
Parenthood. The single greatest journey of my life.
