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Along Life’s Way
Their Choices
By Lois E. Wilson
Tired from his week-long business trip, he picked up his suitcase and
walked down the hall eager to get unpacked. As he passed his son’s
room, through the open door he saw him sitting at his desk with head
down, resting on his arms. He looked troubled. “Say, Buddy, what’s the
matter? You should be happy. Mom said that you made the Junior High
baseball team.”
The boy stirred and looked up. “I didn’t make the team; you could say
I’m on it—but only because not enough students went out for baseball.
The coach made all of us part of the team so he would have substitutes
if someone got hurt. I wasn’t a good enough player to earn a spot.”
Dad replied, “If you remember, I played a little baseball in school.
I’m going to have to do less traveling for my job. I’ll have some free
time to work with you maybe three times a week if you’d like to try it.
Think it over and let me know. We’ll see if we can plan a schedule.”
The next day Buddy said to his Dad, “I say, let’s try it. I don’t think
I can get any worse, and maybe I can improve.” They worked out a
practice schedule. Three times a week they faithfully went to a nearby
park to practice throwing, catching, fielding, batting and running
bases—all the basics.
Dad could see his son’s confidence improving with every session they
had together. He was feeling a connection with his son—deeper than he
had ever felt before. They were becoming a father-son team.
Dad made certain that he and Buddy’s Mother attended every one of their
son’s games. Buddy seldom played more than a few minutes, but even so,
his Dad could see that Buddy was always doing his best and supporting
the first-string players.
At one of the home games when trying to reach a fly ball, their right
fielder twisted his ankle. Buddy was sent in as a substitute. In the
ninth inning, the score was tied 3 to 3. Buddy knew he would have to
bat. He thought to himself, “Keep calm. Don’t mess up.”
His team had two outs. The batter ahead of him got a double. Buddy
walked up to the plate, took a few practice swings and waited for the
pitch. He watched it whiz by him—a called strike. The next pitch he
swung at and missed. Three called balls flew past. He thought, “It’s
now or never.” He hit the next pitch. The ball shot far into right
field. The runner on base ran full speed to tag home plate. The team
scored and won. On the way home Buddy said to his Dad, “We did it!”
“No,” his Dad pointed out. “You did it. When you were disappointed, you
had a choice—to become bitter or get better. You made the winning
choice to get better. I made a choice too. My choice to spend more time
with you was my winner. I’ll treasure that choice forever!”
Happy Father’s Day!
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