Now that that is out of the way, on to this week’s topic - Baseball with Dad!

A couple weeks ago, I enjoyed one of my favorite weeks of the year (BY FAR!!!) — it was the week I travel to Phoenix, AZ each year and spend 4 days and possibly 7 games (4 guaranteed) playing baseball with my dad in the MSBL Father/Son Baseball Tournament. To say that it is a #blessing to be able to go out and compete as a 36 year old son with your 61 year old father is a massive understatement. I thank the big man upstairs each and every year for this opportunity and cherish absolutely every moment out there on the baseball field during this week. Even though the other sons and myself spend the whole week carrying the old men on our backs and dragging them to victory, I wouldn’t want to spend this week any other way!

As long as I can remember, the baseball field has always been a special place with dad — from growing up as his team’s batboy, to making my way to the score book while my brother Jacob (#GoPokes) took care of the batboy duties, to tears when he changed teams, to all my success on the baseball field in high school, to playing side by side in adult leagues, to supporting my continued playing of the sport and setting an example of baseball being a life long sport! There were the days of playing catch in the yard — often times with baseballs being fired across the yard for me to go get because I overthrew the old man a couple times in a row. There were the days of learning to work a pitching machine and the old man blaming his inability to hit the ball on me not properly putting the ball into the machine ( 😃 I am kidding of course, my dad is one of the best hitters and teachers of hitting that I have ever met 😃 ). I could go on and on and tell story after story, but the whole point of my story is that through the sport of baseball, my father was able to connect with me, find a common ground, and truly strike up a father/son relationship that we can both be proud of.

For us, it was baseball (and sports in general) but it does not have to be that way — with you and your kids (or father) it can be whatever you like it to be — but, I highly encourage you to make the effort and find that common ground and strike up that relationship with each one of your kids. For example, my son and I have found common ground playing Call of Duty, Football/Wrestling, our love of Technology, Graphic Design, etc. The one that I would like to touch on is Wrestling. I played Basketball throughout high school and looked at the wrestlers as a bunch of butt sniffers (hahahaha — jk Shufelt and Willy — Shufelt could have pinned me in 3 seconds if he wanted to and I was damn near a solid 50lbs heavier!) — I knew nothing about the sport, so when my son came to me saying that he wanted to wrestle, I knew one thing had to happen — I had to get to work learning the sport of wrestling. You see, common ground isn’t just what you want it to be as a father, it also includes putting in the work to be interested in the things that your kids are interested in! I will say that again, common ground isn’t just having your kids be interested in the things that you are interested in as a father, it also includes putting in work to be interested in the things that your kids are interested/participating in! I seriously cannot repeat that enough as it is one of the hardest things to do as your kids become older and get busier and busier. BUT, being interested in the things that they are interested in and finding that common ground allows you to EASILY keep the avenues of communication open and will only strengthen your relationship with your child — which, I am not sure if there is a greater thing in life than the relationships that you have with your children!

Trust me, like all things, it isn’t going to be easy — shit, I have years of learning about braids, glitter, makeup, ponies, unicorns, etc. ahead of me — but one thing is for sure, it will be worth it! So, whether it is baseball, wrestling, rainbows, a new band that you don’t like…….I encourage everyone with kids to put in the work to learn, engage, communicate, and ultimately build the strongest relationship you can with your children as it is a gift that keeps on giving!

In a society/life today that is go-go-go, the sport of baseball brings my father and I together each and every year, for one week, in sunny Arizona, for a break from everything that is daily life to give me one of the most memorable weeks of my year…….I wouldn’t trade it for anything!