A Mom For All (the) Seasons

As we celebrate and honor the special women in our lives, I found myself going through the Way Back Machine in my mind, remembering all the Cub games that my mom and I shared.

There was the game in April long ago against the Pittsburgh Pirates, sitting between home and third under the upperdeck where I missed an inning of the game because I was standing in line for a couple of cups of hot chocolate. It was an overcast day with a high of about 38 degrees. I think we lasted until the sixth or seventh inning of a woeful loss only because my feet were numb. She was willing to stay as long as I could handle it, and she did.

There was the game a few years later on a beautiful summer day against the Dodgers we sat down the thirdbase line next to some loudmouth L.A. cop, in town to follow his team. For the whole game we (mainly she) had to listen to him bloviate about every stat and nugget he knew about baseball and the Dodgers (which it turns out wasn’t much, because even as a fourteen year old, I knew how much misinformation he was spewing). The game ended in exciting fashion as the Dodgers had men on first and second, one out. A groundball up the middle and a wild throw as the Cubs tried to turn the doubleplay sent the ball into the stands letting the tying run to score. BUT WAIT!!! The secondbase umpire called interference on the runner trying to break up the doubleplay and therefore ruled the automatic doubleplay that ended the game. But that didn’t end the experience. In overdone, teenage joy I turned to the L.A. cop and screamed at the top of my lungs, over and over, “You lose! You lose! You lose!” As a parent now I am sure she wanted to step in and tell me to calm down, maybe even respect my elders. But she let me have my Cub fan moment.

There was the time (1984 I think) that we had tickets for a game against the Cardinals and we drove all the way down to Wrigley, couldn’t find parking and then drove all the way back home to watch it on T.V. Not once did she complain that we basically drove all the way downtown for nothing.

Fast forward to current times and I watch my betrothed and mother of four sit in sweltering heat watching a slow moving softball game of our oldest daughter as well as on and off frigid conditions to watch our second-grader excel at soccer. And this doesn’t take into consideration the countless hours she is in the backyard working on soccer drills or pitching and fielding batting practice.

She also agreed (and basically suggested) that we name our youngest two after baseball players and the baseball experience. Sports, specifically baseball, continue to weave its way through the fabric of many families. I am fortunate and privileged to be in one such family with women that enjoy the national pastime as much as most men.

Moms are an amazing breed and deserve our undying appreciation, not only on this day, but all days.

And last but not least, we look forward to Mother’s Day because it is CFCL tradition to enjoy this week’s report submitted by the League Secretary.