In truth, I wasn’t asked to do it. I took it upon myself, unasked, and I don’t think it would be completely accurate to say that I was all that busy when I started it. However, when I contemplate the number of social media elements that I’ve been attempting to maintain of late, along with in-person pro-social activities, it would be fair to describe me as busy now.
My wife and I have two sons. The older boy is fifteen. He has a learning disability which makes information-processing difficult for him, but aside from that, he possesses a wonderful personality, a fantastic smile, and a charming sense of humor. The younger boy is thirteen. He has no learning disability. He also possesses a wonderful personality that he often hides under the guise of early teen crudites…ooops. I mean, crudity. He has a wonderful smile and laugh, though he hates to let those show more than necessary. He’s taller than his older brother, so he’s often mistaken as the older one.
Both of our boys love baseball. The younger has been playing it since Tee-Ball was available through town rec league. He goes to clinics, plays regular Little League, and plays fall leagues and indoor leagues–whatever we can afford and he can. He was able to play at Maine’s iconic “Little Fenway” and “Little Wrigley” fields last fall in a special league that existed for that purpose.
The older boy has played a lot of solo wiffleball in the yard, including his own play-by-play announcing for his games. With the use of a pitch-back device in the field by the house, both boys have been able to practice their throws, pitches, and batting over the years. They’ve also taken advantage of the falling crabapples from our tree in the yard, hitting the fruit in lieu of plastic balls, since they don’t have to retrieve the small apples.
In spring 2021, our younger son played Junior (Little) League baseball as part of a three-town team. One field they used was Mansfield Stadium in Bangor, built nearly two decades ago by Stephen King and named in honor of a young man with a disability. From 2002 to 2016 the stadium was used as the home of the Senior Little League World Series (15 & 16 year-olds). In 2009, current Boston Red Sox All-Star Shortstop Xander Bogaerts played at Mansfield with his home team of Aruba! Other MLB players, such as Kolten Wong and Kenley Jansen, played there, too. (You can learn all about the stadium here: http://mansfieldstadium.com/content/5001/about-the-stadium)
Our older boy watched the games at Mansfield and expressed his longing to play there, too. His dream came true when the Bangor Alternative Baseball Organization came into existence in September 2021 (www.bangoralternativebaseball.com). When that team began, though, all involved had to rely on the coaches to communicate with us on every little piece of information; we had no central site to be in touch with each other. That’s when I took it upon myself to become busier than I was.
One week, I created http://www.facebook.com/BangorAlternativeBaseball. A week or two later, I added http://www.bangoralternativebaseball.com. Part of the website is writing blog posts. Part of the FB page is maintaining communications, inviting “likers” of posts to follow the page, and checking for messages. On top of that, I don’t want to forget this blog, because this is where I can say what’s on my mind for me. Beyond this, I have a story I’m writing, and I want to get it out of rut it’s been stuck in for the last two weeks.
A benefit of the baseball team pages is that this season will end soon, so the regular maintenance should ease up just a bit. We had a big event last weekend that consumed a lot of time, effort, and energy. It was wonderful, and we’re very pleased with the results. Still, this ‘busy’ guy is happy to step back, breathe deeply, and set down the boxes he’s carrying for a time.
Endorphins are released when we do things we enjoy, accomplish goals we’ve been reaching for, and find satisfaction in what we do. All of these are true for me in helping my kids in baseball and in life, but I’m glad for the time to live for my wife and me, too. I’ve lost 42 pounds since May 23 this year, and I’ll keep on that journey, as well. May the Lord prosper you, dear readers. I’ll catch you on the next post.
Mack Ames Books and Maine Moose Patrol 