This Saturday was a busy day for everyone. I woke up at 5:30 AM, got Jack up at 6, and we headed to Jacksonville for his first two morning baseball games. They ended up with a late rally and tieing (tying?) the first game and lost the second game but it was close. Jack had a lot of stomach muscle pain from this cough that he’s had for almost two weeks now. But coach made him the starting pitcher so he went out there and was a trooper, never complaining.

He only gave up one hit and one run in the first inning. But in the second inning he struck out the only three batters he faced. It was pretty damn impressive. The other team starting tee-ing off on him in the third inning though. But I think that’s ok. He’s more of a thrower than a pitcher still at this point, but he throws strikes mostly. There’s no wild pitches or passed balls when the throws.

We ate a Buffalo Wild Wings with Ed and Matt, who had come over to watch Jack play.

Then I went home and washed the car to get it ready for Emma’s prom. We went uptown to the park and took pictures of Emma and her boyfriend, and some of their classmates. Emma was gorgeous in her dress. I mean, she’s a good looking young lady all the time but she really picked out an awesome dress this time.

I chauffeured Emma and her date in the Tesla because RT didn’t feel comfortable driving it (or any of our other vehicles). So I got to hang out in the parking lot and watch all the kids mix and mingle before the walk in. The farting Tesla on the external speaker was a big hit all around.

RT talked some about his autism and reactions and stuff like that. It’s weird because Emma never talks about her autism. I can literally count on one hand the number of times I’ve heard my wife mention to someone else that Emma is autistic. It’s not something to hide or be ashamed of, but we don’t make it part of Emma’s identity. There’s no inspirational quotes on Facebook, no pity being requested or being given. Emma has a normal high school routine and extracurricular activities. This is something I love about my wife and one of the reasons she was such a good special education teacher; she would acknowledge that someone had a impairment or disability and then move on from it. She has taught so many kids to be as independent as possible. When it comes to Emma I just follow my wife’s lead on how to raise her. It may have been hard on my oldest daughter when she was growing up because sometimes we needed to have two sets of rules – one for Laina, one for Emma. It was a continually learning process to see where Emma could function “normally” and where we might have to dial things back to deal with her autism. But wow, I’m amazed at how far she has come in her life. But I try not to act amazed. It’s just business-as-usual around our house.

After prom drop off it was time to get back home, pick up Jack, Elsa and Laina, and head back to Jacksonville for a supposed 8:15pm game. But due to the rain delays earlier all the games got pushed back. It’s was 9:45PM and Jack’s game still hadn’t started. I made plans for him to get a ride home, and me and the girls left.

I had to get the coffee stuff and Nintendo Wiis ready for the post-prom party. It was a big hit, bigger than I could have imagined. Pretty awesome, all in all. At 3:00AM I picked up Emma and my wife from post-prom, went home, and slept.

So as I was walking around at 9:30PM on a beautiful Saturday night at the sports complex, I was in awe of all the activity. There were five ballfields all full of kids playing, coaches, parents sitting along the dugouts in lawn chairs, other teams hitting in the batting cages, people lined up at the concession stand and little kids on the playground. It felt like a factory cranking out kids to play ball. But when I took it all in I realized what most coaches already know – it’s not about baseball. It’s about character development for the kids. It’s about teaching them a skill and how to improve at it, and how to build confidence. It teaches camaraderie and teamwork. It teaches responsibility and how to prepare for events. It teaches patience and resilience, like when an 8:15 game doesn’t start until 10PM. It teaches kids that the other team is not the enemy; the other team is there to test you and make you better. It’s the beauty of competition between two teams that are somewhat evenly matched in skill levels. Baseball is just the means to these ends.