I’ll fail for you

Rushing my son to his All Star baseball game and driving like a maniac, we were a mess. Now I have no idea what triggered the family emotional meltdown, but there we were again. Pulling up to the entry gate curb of the baseball field, I tossed my ten year old out the door saying, “I know it’s been rough, but do your best to collect yourself. Don’t let this derail you. Be ready for anything.”

“Anything” turned out to be my son on the mound as the starting pitcher. Considering he wasn’t a pitcher of any sort, this was a shock. Immediately I was thrilled that he was chosen for this privilege! Just as swiftly I felt awful. How could I have allowed our family unrest to happen and expect my kid to do well?

Any reasonable definition of a good parent, and good person, needs to anticipate and account for human failing.

Dennis Prager writes in his book, Happiness Is a Serious Problem:

Virtually all of us have in some ways been hurt by our parent (s). In terms of our upbringing, nearly all of us can consider ourselves victims. So common is it to inherit problems from our parents that UCLA psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Marmer maintains that if we pass on to our children just half the neurosis we were given by our parents, we will have been exemplary parents!

All right! I’m an exemplary parent. Yes.

My son pitched a winner with his All Star team. Watching from behind home plate, he brought me out of myself and into the game by pitching well, smiling, and laughing.  My son had one of the best baseball nights of his life.  Seven years later, he’s still pitching.

Gray Stripe Earned: Something special is often right around the corner from my failure.