Stepping Stones

It’s a Journey

Each of us on our life journey never really get off of the stepping stones that have been placed on our adventurous path. Hopefully, we are constantly moving forward, learning things along the way, gathering and stockpiling all of the wisdom needed for a life of fulfillment. Each stone a place of pause until we are ready to move to the next. A physical goal never beyond our reach, the length of our stay measured by our own level of confidence.

Recently, as I was watching my grandson play a little league baseball game, the idea of stepping stones became front and center with me. I have watched him a few times over the last couple of years, from the instructional league to his current stint in the 9 and 10 year old age group. Maybe next year he will get to move up to the final stage of this phase of his little league career. One foot in front of the other as they say!

This whole experience of watching my grandson has taken me back to what it was like watching my own son when he was that age. We would play catch around the house and he always did a good job of improving from one session to the next. I would even go as far as to say that he actually excelled at the sport at his young age. When he practiced with his team he did quite well, more so than I did myself at his age.

Childs Play

When it finally came time to play is his first organized little league game everyone was filled with excitement. He rewarded all of us by going to bat three times during that first game and not once did he swing the bat. Yes, he was called out on strikes all three times. I remembered shouting at him from the other side of the fence to, “swing!”, yet there he stood, motionless!

After the game I went up to him and said, “son, you are never going to hit the ball if you don’t swing the bat, you have to swing the bat!” My son looked up at me and gifted me with these words, “dad, I’m only 9 years old!” Ha! Out of the mouth of babes! Indeed he was!

This may have been the last time I ever suggested to my son how he should approach the game of little league baseball. Oh sure, I would offer all of the advice he needed… if he asked! By the way, my son went on to excel at the sport…without my help!

The impact of what he said to me that day has stuck with me right up to the present day. Indeed he really was only 9 years old. Let’s put that all in perspective for a moment. Here he was playing in his first ever little league baseball game. He was wearing a real baseball uniform, he stepped onto a real baseball diamond filled with other 9 and 10 year olds who also had real baseball uniforms on, many in the first real game as well. There was a scoreboard with lights in it. There were real umpires who also happened to have real umpire uniforms on. The field was lined on both sides with shouting, screaming parents, siblings, even grandparents, and aunts and uncles! Heck there was even a concession stand selling hot dogs and hamburgers, fries, and soda, even popcorn and ice cream!

Buy Me Some Peanuts

To these young kids who were playing in their very first real little league game, this was the real deal! In their eyes this is what they saw on TV. This was what we experienced when we went to the big league parks. This was their “real” baseball and it was their very first time! They were petrified! The bat didn’t move that day because of fear, not because he didn’t know how to swing, and as my son reminded me…he was only 9 years old!

Stepping stones! They are our life journey, and if we are lucky enough to collect wisdom along this journey we never really get off of them, do we? Each of them leading to the next, depositing lessons along the way making all of us better because of them. Learning is a lifelong event, none of us know everything, each of us capable of learning in place, before we take our next step forward.

Watching my grandson recently has been a firm reminder of what the innocence of their intenseness means to them. I told my daughter that my grandson had a good team. We chuckled when I mentioned that there were about 15 kids and another 37 coaches on our side of the fence. Even at this young age, there is a world surrounding them which is so real, so mimicking of an adult world we try to rush them into. We drag them across those stepping stones without enough of a pause to learn life’s lessons along the way.

I have fallen off of my stepping stones in this life. There have been times when I think I have learned as much as there is to learn in this classroom called life. Fortunately for me the climb back on to this path has come quick. I know there are lessons for all of us right under our noses. It really doesn’t matter how much time you spend on the stepping stones in your own life. If you can always have a goal of reaching the one in front of you and never forget what the one behind you has delivered, then you will surely set yourself up for continued success, even when some of your best advice comes from someone who is, “only 9 years old!”

Talk soon…

G