Minor Phillies

Today marks the beginning of the playoffs for Headless Boy#1's baseball team, the minor league Phillies. It is a 2 week, double elimination extravaganza, that has all of us parents biting our nails.

The season started out a little rough for us. HB1 is not the best player on the team and it has taken all season for him to hit his stride. He took things really hard in the beginning, including some evenings of tears, but has grown as a player, made some great friends, and learned some life-lessons along the way.

Our team party was on Saturday evening. The family that hosted, the M's, have a great pool, with a waterfall, slide, and a jacuzzi, so obviously the kids swam first. I think that there were about 20 kids crammed into that pool! Also included in the evening was a frozen drink machine, (fruit punch for the kids and margaritas for the parents!), a popcorn machine, and an outdoor movie for the kids after dinner. Dinner was mostly potluck, and our contribution was Headless Dad's unmatched tri-tip. (Really, you should try it. He's the Grill Master.)

The best thing about this team is that we have finally connected with so many local parents on a personal level. Even outside of baseball. All of the parents have agreed that this has been the best social team that we've ever been on, so you can imagine the fun that we had on Saturday night. This was no sit-and-watch-the-kids-and-make-small-talk-party. Oh no. There were plenty of adults that rotated to watch the pool, but in between there were deep belly laughs, and eventually shots of tequilla for those with iron stomachs. (Uh, not me.)

Our manager and coach were the perfect balance of tough and positive. They only ever expected any boy to perform to his own level and that helped each boy to reach his potential for this year. We started the season with one pitcher, and are going into the playoffs with 3 really good ones, and at least 3 others that can finish out a game well. I think the kids are 'peaking' at the right point of the season-within the last few weeks they have bear the first place team, tied the second place team, and come from behind to win or come that.close in 2 other games. We could actually do well over the next 2 weeks.

Finding my people has been a highlight of the season for me. I have people! For 11 years I have looked for my people and all it took in the end was the minor Phillies. Who knew? So on Monday evening, between 5 and 7 pacific time, could you send up a little prayer for us to extend this season a little bit longer? I'm not ready for it to be over quite yet, and neither are the boys.