No Crying in Baseball

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
― Lao Tzu

“Momma, Momma!” One word I hear repeated over and over and over and over in my daily life.

 Sometimes it is followed a sense of pride, “Momma, I scored four goals in soccer tonight.”

Other times it is followed by a bit of impatience, “Momma, are we there yet?”

Today I witnessed a moment when my son experienced his first baseball injury. Normally the sight of blood will send him into a tailspin of tears, but not today.

“Momma, I have to show you my first baseball injury,” he proudly stated, while tromping through the front yard. Dean was close behind him with a twinkle in his eyes, as Noah continued to share the heroic story of his first baseball injury.

“Look,” he said, shoving his elbow under my nose, “blood.”

Mind you, I expected to see massive amounts of blood, but all I saw was a speck of red. What he claimed was a mind-boggling baseball injury, was actually a scrape with a tad bit of blood. Sometimes raspberry type scrapes hurt a lot more than cuts involving blood.

I have to give kudos to Dean because he creatively twisted the scenario in a positive direction. When the baseball injury happened, Dean was quick to help him laugh off the scrape; encouraging him to dwell on how brave he was instead. He reminded Noah he was brave for continuing to master the art of baseball. He reminded Noah he was brave for continuing to improve his baseball skills, even though it might involve injury. He reminded Noah that if you want something bad enough, you have to work for it. He reminded Noah there is no crying in baseball, (my favorite line from the movie League of Their Own).

Dean reminded Noah of all of this by saying, “Wow, you have now experienced your first baseball injury.”

The love Dean has for Noah gave Noah the strength to laugh off his injury. However, the love Noah has for Dean gave Noah the courage to buy into the first baseball injury scenario; resulting in a satisfied, yet injured seven year old boy