“Do you boys have your gloves?” I asked as we drove down the road. Nope, they’re at home. I turned around to pick up their gloves before heading to the park for my final day of 30 days of catch. It’s been an amazing month full of fun games of catch, wonderful conversations, and inspiring donations of time and money!
Today my final catch partners are my two boys, Zeke, age 7.5, and Luke, who just turned 4 a few weeks back. While we played for about 10 or so minutes tonight, they have really been with me all month playing catch. In fact, we’ve probably played nearly every day since the 30-day challenge began and really, well, every day this entire summer.
They love to play, which is such a gift. Even when I’m tired from a long day at work or I’m just not in the mood to play, I usually hear, “Hey Dad, can we play outside?” They ask me that nearly every day. Tonight, I tossed a real baseball with Zeke and a tennis ball with Luke. Sometimes even Luke uses a real ball, but tonight, just to be safe, we used a tennis ball.
Zeke made some pro-like diving catches while Luke missed the ball and yelled that he was now on the injured list for no good reason. He would quickly get up, then throw the ball yelling, “That’s my four-seam fastball,” which he has no idea what that really is.
As you have probably noticed from all the pictures, my boys often sing, “Go, Cubs, Go!” Actually, they cheered for the South Bend Cubs first before they even realized Chicago had a team by the same name. Now, they know all about the Cubs from Chicago and South Bend, and cheer for our hometown Indianapolis Indians. And Zeke cheers for just about any team that wins and any player that’s great. That’s why he wore an Elly De La Cruz (Reds 3rd baseman) t-shirt to his first day of school much to dad’s chagrin, but I can’t argue with cheering for a player like that.
It was a fun final game of catch tonight. With these two, it’s easy to go from yelling, “Don’t hit your brother” to “Great catch buddy!” all in the same breath. These two make me smile, laugh, and enjoy playing. I’m thankful for that because it can be hard sometimes to play or find ways to have fun, especially for those of us with serious jobs. This month has been a lesson for me to learn the spirituality of joy, play, and fun. I am beginning to learn that maybe the best spiritual discipline we can cultivate is joy. That might be playing with the young ones in our lives, doing an activity that brings us joy, or simply spending time with the people who make us smile and laugh. I feel very blessed that I was able to do all three tonight!
Speaking of play and fun and celebration, tomorrow night is our “Final Day of Catch Party” with Rowdie from the Indianapolis Indians! I might be more excited than any of the kids who might attend tomorrow. There’s nothing better than playing catch with a giant red baseball bear and a bunch of kids. It’s going to be a time of joy, play, and fun! I hope you can come!
One more day! One day more! I’m hoping to reach my new goal of $20,000. Here’s where we are tonight: $19,096!!!!
Help me get there by making a donation to Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana using the link below.
https://give.gleaners.org/fundraiser/4739257
As I shared above, Rowdie from the Indianapolis Indians is coming to Castleton UMC! Everyone is invited to join me for my Final Day of Catch Party behind the main church building near the playgrounds on Thursday, August 31st from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. We’ll have popsicles for the kiddos, cornhole, the playgrounds will be open, and some surprises! You can also play catch of course and get your picture with Rowdie! Join us for the celebration!
Here is the event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1226246214719825/?ref=newsfeed
Get outside. Play catch. Find something that brings joy and a smile to your face.
Thank you for supporting Gleaners and following my 30 days of catch!