Sunday, April 27, 2014

Early Mom's Day

Today we had a really nice time with family as my mother was recognized by her church for her job as their secretary/administrative assistant for much of the past decade.  She was deserving of the recognition, and the church celebrated with a luncheon after the church service.  Bethel United Methodist Church just north of Upper Marlboro is a very small church of fewer than 100 members, and there were approximately 30 people attending the service today.  Our family, including my parents, my sister, my brother, and my daughter and I, ended up being the biggest bunch of people at the church.

After the service, and after we ate lots of home-cooked food, I left to get a change of clothes since a bunch of guys were going to play softball on the church's adjacent field.  I found out later that, right after I left, a snake slithered into the church's fellowship hall.  My brother saw it.  It was about 4 feet long, and appeared to be a copperhead.  My brother, very calmly, asked everyone to pick up their feet and he and another person corralled the snake into a cardboard box and released him into the woods behind the church.  It was a lot of excitement for a little country church.

I ran to Sears and found a pair of shoes appropriate for softball, as well as some sweats, then returned to the church.  The whole trip took less than an hour.  I went down to the field and noticed that there were only about seven guys out there, along with a couple of spectators.  My father and I had joked earlier that neither of us had played softball in about 15 or 16 years.  We weren't sure we could even throw anymore.  I shouldn't doubted ourselves.  Softball is much like riding a bike.  You really don't forget how to play.  It's just a little harder since we're older and much more out of shape.

Since we were just batting and fielding, not really playing, before I could get out on the field, Dad suggested that I take a few swings with the bat.  He was pitching.  I made contact with the first pitch, then whiffed on the next half dozen.  I took some pretty massive swings, almost falling down on a couple of them.  I hacked away at a few more and finally was able to make some decent contact.  After finishing, my hands were aching and my back was sore.  I'm going to pay for this later.

Once out in the field, I chased a few well hit balls all over the field, and almost lost my balance trying to snag another one.  Then, it was over.  The other guys seemed very disappointed by the turnout.  They had expected enough to field a couple of teams and actually play a game.  It was fun for me since I hadn't played in so long.  They plan to make this a regular thing, and while it would be a blast to be a part of it, the fact that we live almost an hour away will make it difficult.

They finished up with a bunch of hot dogs and watermelon.  Then my daughter took a few swings, and made some decent contact (although she also had a ball tip off the bat and hit her in the chin!).  It appears that she actually has a little talent for softball.  It got even better after getting her a glove and we played some catch.  She caught everything I threw to her.  Wow, I'd sure love it if she ended up playing a sport.  Maybe softball is the one!

It was a really nice afternoon.  The weather was almost perfect, with low humidity and temps in the sixties.  I'm glad that we could be a part of Mom's big day.  She told us this counts as her Mother's Day, since her big wish was to have the whole family together, which is getting harder to do.

God gave us a great day.  I hope you all have a wonderful evening!

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