So, Atlanta has been interesting…pitched a good game, not a perfect game. A good game with a smile on his face and a confident gum chewing demeanor. How moms measure good is a stark contrast to sons .

Good gameto moms is more strike outs than walks; more outs than hits, more aggressive throws overs to first to get the runner and more shoulders back, head high, swagger and stride in the trot back to the dugout.

We watch for these good things. Good to moms is decidedly different than to a handsome young man, your son, the pitcher who throws a pitch that’s propelled over the fence. Not good moms…that’s bad.

Good is not the loss, regardless of the circumstances or contributing factors aka errors…loss is not good. A win is the only good. How on earth is a mom to respond? Well, the response is no response. Not natural, I know!

Time will pass with no need for what we perceive as encouragement that is really just a futile effort to make “it all better” like the skinned knee or the failed test or even the broken heart…even that we can buffer. But, pitching… moms, we just can’t fix.

So we sit and we anticipate calls. We gauge our son’s posture, smile, his movements and we watch, we spectate, we support. That is all. That is enough.

Count your blessings if you have coaches who are just the right combination of wisdom, boyish rambunctious, and hindsight… This means they remember being where your son is and they teach, they guide, they remind and most importantly they point upwards to God when challenged with “Why?”

Teachers everywhere…

Your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it.  Isaiah 30:21

Today, a whole bunch of 4K children will arrive excited to play outdoors at the end of the year party. I hear there will be water involved and most of the day will be outdoors. Summer will begin next week and the lessons will be memories and foundations for their future. They have had their first year of school with a first year teacher…a Teacher who taught lessons and love. I am going to miss my daughter’s stories of connections, concern, comedy, and compassion…my daughter, a teacher who loves.

Here are just a few things I know her students learned this year, the things that will assure them of the goodness of teachers:

If you don’t have a mat for naptime, you use a towel and one day when you least expect it, your teacher will call you up to her desk and whisper, “Look, I got you a mat!” and you will know you are important to her.

If you throw up all over your stuff in your cubby and your classmate’s cubby, you might come to school the next day and your teacher will give you a freshly washed bookbag ’cause your teacher took it home, unpacked it, wiped away the grossness and washed it in her washing machine. You will know that a really, horrible day doesn’t mean tomorrow will be bad, your teacher will make sure of that.

If you don’t have very much food at home and you forget your “weekend backpack” your teacher will show up in front of your house and as you open the door you will see your teacher’s smiling face on your porch ’cause she wants to make sure your weekend is good and she will see you on Monday! You will know that even if she can’t be with you on the weekends, she cares.

If there is something you just can’t learn and nobody can figure it out, your teacher will tell you, “You can, let’s try again.” and even if you ask her over and over “Can you help me?” she will help you and tell you each time, “You can do this.” So, you will know “you can learn if you don’t give up.”

Close to 20 children will be kindergarteners next year and will know what to expect from a teacher. They will remember that a teacher has rules and schedules and likes to be listened to; but, most importantly, they will remember that teachers love!

Thankful to be the mother of a teacher who loves and remembers her first year of being loved by a teacher….the framework for her life…for her students!