A Father's Milestone

As this is a blog about a veterinarian's life, and not just one about veterinary medicine, I'm going to step away from what I do and talk a bit about who I am. In this case, my role as a father.

Yesterday my son had his first baseball game. He just started minor league a few weeks ago, and this is his first time in organized sports. When I was growing up I was never really "into" sports, and neither was my father. However, I played soccer for many years, and swam competitively, doing very well in both sports. In fact, if I had pursued it into high school, I probably could have gotten to the point of earning sports scholarships. I was never interested in baseball, basketball, or football, the main US sports endeavors, and remain disinterested to this day. My pursuits are more in the "geek sports" than traditional ones. So supporting my son in a sport I never played was pretty interesting.

Watching a group of 8 year-olds play baseball was pretty funny. There were some good hitters on both teams, though the opposing team had more of them than my son's. Fielding was pretty poor on both teams, so for the most part of someone hit the ball they ended up on base. The coaches also called a team's half of the inning done when the batting team accumulated five runs.

As much as I hate to say it, Lucas wasn't a star performer. He struck out both times at bat, and one time just kind of watched a ball go by him when he was in the outfield. But he had a really good time, and I know he will get better. What was great for me was to see my boy out there on the field.

On my way home from work this evening I was talking to my father on the phone, and telling him about the baseball game. We compared notes to when I was playing soccer and he was on the sidelines watching. One memory that we shared was my own experiences with being a bit distracted on the field. Just like Lucas was staring off into nothing when a ball came near, I also had moments when I was picking at grass or otherwise not paying attention while the ball was on the other end of the field. I guess it's something that all kids do at one point.

So now I've reached that particular milestone of a father, and have watched my son play his first sports game. It was a bit surreal, but I was very proud of him, and look forward to even more games. Hopefully he will get on base next time.