Happy Mother's Day to all the moms reading this. Hopefully you all had a wonderful weekend. For those of us with young kids, that usually means homemade gifts that somehow become your most prized possessions, crumbs - I mean breakfast in bed, and a weekend that is loud, messy, and exhausting in the best possible way. In my case, it also included baseball games with my kids, which honestly turned out to be exactly what I needed.
I love baseball and always have. I know some people think it is too slow or boring, but I love the strategy of it all. I love watching momentum shift during a game. I love wondering when a manager will pull a pitcher, where the gaps are in the defense, or whether someone is about to break out of a slump. Apparently my kids love it too. Sometimes I think it may just be for the snacks, but they really do sit and watch the game, ask questions, and get invested in what is happening on the field.
Going into the weekend though, I was struggling a little bit. I had one of those weeks where work followed me home mentally. The kind where you replay conversations in your head, second guess yourself, and sit with that nagging feeling that maybe you should have done something differently. Even after all these years practicing law, I still care deeply about doing right by people, and when something feels off it sticks with me longer than I would like. By Friday, I was emotionally drained and honestly tempted to just stay home and stew in it.
Instead, we went to the game. And almost immediately, my kids pulled me out of my own head without even realizing they were doing it. We settled into our seats with drinks and snacks. My son worked on learning to keep score and took the job very seriously. My daughter cheered loudly. We danced to the music between innings, we talked about school, laughed at the bobbleheads (it's a Diamondbacks thing), and watched a player get his first major league at bat. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, I realized I had stopped thinking about work.
They do not let you sit in your own thoughts for too long.
That is the magic kids have sometimes. They do not let you sit in your own thoughts for too long. They pull you back into the present whether you are ready or not. They need another snack. They want to know why the pitcher got pulled. They want you to watch this funny dance on the big screen. They remind you that there is still joy happening around you even when your brain is trying very hard to focus on something else.
At one point during the game there was a little bobble between the pitcher and first baseman that allowed a runner to reach safely. A few innings later a relief pitcher came in and immediately gave up runs. Normally those moments are frustrating for the players and fans, but everyone just keeps going because that is baseball. You make a mistake, shake it off, and play the next inning. Watching it with my kids beside me, I realized how badly I needed that reminder myself.
The best part of the weekend though was not even the games. It was Sunday morning. We ended the weekend piled together in bed watching a movie, while my husband cooked breakfast (that we ate at the table) and my kids half-snuggled into me. In that moment I realized how lucky I actually am. Not because life is perfect or because hard weeks magically disappear, but because I have these people who pull me out of myself when I need it most.
Sometimes the people who love you best are the ones who remind you without even trying that there is more to life than the thing currently weighing you down. This weekend, my kids did exactly that for me. And honestly, I do not think I could have asked for a better Mother's Day gift.
