Woo-Hoo!

Last night, we had us some excitement. And it was good. And it centered around the baseball field.

I think my disdain for baseball is slowly fading. It's amazing how that happens the second your kid does well.

Clay continues to strike out at bat. I hate it for him, but we don't discuss it at length. He's a sensitive boy, and I'd rather he beat himself up over grades or behavioral issues than a ball game, if he's going to beat himself up about anything. And he will. He knows without me telling him when he's done well and when he hasn't.

Last night he did well. In fact, he won the game ball. He strutted off that field like a peacock with its colorful garb in full bloom. I thought it was for my benefit, but I was wrong.

"Where's Spencer?" he asked.

Realization dawned quickly. It was important to him to show his younger brother, who won a game ball last week, that he could do it, too.

The play that won him the game ball came when a slugger got up to bat and hit that ball hard and fast toward the outfield, where Clay has consistently played all season. He held his glove in the air and stretched his body as long as it would go and the ball practically fell into Clay's glove. In a split second I saw him look into his glove to double check that he had, in fact, caught the ball. Still there!

I am normally a very reserved parent at the fields. And it doesn't matter if my kid is doing great in the sport he loves or if he has more interest in the dirt and grass on the field than the game. It's not my style to bellow and draw attention to myself. However...

I jumped up and yelled, "That's my boy!" I felt a few tears, too.

Stupid game. How dare the game I disliked so much a few weeks ago nearly bring me to tears in public. Stupid game.

Aww, but that's my boy!

To celebrate, we got some fast food on the way home. But not just any fast food. We got Burger King.

And that holds absolutely no significance for your average person, but for me, it was a monumental occasion. I had not eaten at Burger King for about nine years. In that time, if I was really hungry but BK was the only fast food restaurant around, I had been known to remain hungry and pass it by.

I got an awful case of food poisoning from a Burger King in Texas a long time ago. No gory details will be served up here, except to say that I've had bouts of strep throat and the flu that were more pleasant. And when it comes to food and illnesses, I have a memory like an elephant (for all other important matters, my memory serves more like a sieve.).

But the kids were begging for Burger King. Because Bruce took them there a few weeks ago. I'm sure he knew it would come back to bite me later. He's a bad man!

I looked at Clay and said, "For you, buddy. I'll do it for you."

So far, so good. No signs of a meal replay in reverse. What goes down, thankfully, has not come back up.

I'm softening in my old age. Baseball and Burger King warm fuzzies all in one night. Times they are a changing in our household.