Friday, June 16, 2017

June 15

Isaac turned nine years old today. I could say what I always say on birthdays --that I can hardly believe that my child is another year older and oh my, where did the time go?-- and I guess I kind of just did, but I'll keep that part of it brief and just say that I'm very proud of the kind, sweet person he's become over time. And then I'll move on to a story from today.

Since he's big into baseball (playing it, watching it, learning as much as he can about it), one of his presents was tickets to tonight's A's game. So we had lunch at his pick (Red Tractor) and did cake and presents in the mid-afternoon so we could head to the Coliseum by 5.

Let me tell you something: Isaac may be a relatively quiet, mild-mannered kid most of the time, but he's something of a beast when he's at a ballgame. He really gets into the tribalism of the event: he screams and cheers and chants and even yells at the ump when he thinks a call was wrong. (And sometimes, he even has a legitimate beef.) In short, it's entertaining to watch him go at it.

And tonight's game --his special nine-year old birthday game-- was a good one. The A's went up early, but they just couldn't seem to hold onto the lead for long. They'd score, and then the Yankees --who, for the record, I despise. Evil empire.-- would come right back and tack on a run of their own. Still, Isaac cheered and whooped and hollered, even as the game dragged (and dragged) on. As it approached the 4 1/2 hour mark, he looked at me sadly and said he wasn't sure they'd be able to pull it out and it did seem bleak; they'd entered the bottom of the 10th and were down by a run. I reminded him that it's just a game and that no one wins all of their games, which I knew that he knew. And then, as the A's have so often done when we've been in attendance, there was an improbable comeback and a win. There was screaming and yelling and even some crying *cough*Abby*cough* and we left with one gleeful birthday kid in tow.

Anyway, I still stand by my words: we don't always win, and that's absolutely okay. Falling short is part of this human life. But you know something? It was awfully nice to see my boy get a special walk-off birthday win, if only just this one time. (And it was super extra special that they were advertising Cars 3 quite prominently!)

Happy birthday, Isaac!

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