February 9

The boys didn't have school today --in remembrance of Lincoln's birthday-- but the baseball calendar marches forward regardless of holidays so Brady had day one of freshman team tryouts this afternoon.

When I picked him up afterward, I asked how it went and then held my breath (because after years of being a sports mom, it's what I've trained myself to do). I released said-breath in relief when he replied with an enthusiastic "actually, it was good!" as he slipped into the backseat with his gear.

In short, he pitched well and hit well, so he was satisfied. And given that he wasn't feeling the best when I dropped him off, that realization was a blessing to my mama-heart. I know what he can do so I was relieved that his under-the-weather'ness  didn't significantly impact his performance.

(And yes, the photo has nothing to do with tryouts or Brady because I didn't think to take one as I picked him up. This is actually a photo of my current work-in-progress. It's backwards so it's impossible to make out the pattern, but it's a fun one. And I'm enjoying it. So that's a blessing, too.)