Social Distance Baseball

One of the ways our Spring has looked SO different from prior years is the absence of sports. For years, Jeff and I would divide and conquer as we drove kids to and from their various practices. Not to mention the countless games and events. This spring would've normally been busier than ever, as Connor was participating in a spring/summer baseball league in addition to the hope of joining a summer prep team for high school. All of that came to a screeching halt with Covid-19. No games or tournaments. No private lessons. No team practices. Nothing. It was like a shock to our systems.

Thankfully, Jeff was willing and able to take on the responsibility of keeping the kids active during our mostly sedentary quarantine. This was most often a thankless task involving lots of whining and bad attitudes, and I witnessed it firsthand when I joined them for a family baseball practice on one occasion.

With the Covid situation, most local parks and fields were closed to visitors. We drove through the heart of Katy to find another field and had to hop the fence to get in. On the way there, it was strange and surreal to see how the landscape had changed in the weeks during quarantine. Our local football stadium was turned into a Covid testing site and was blocked off with many school buses and police vehicles. And even stranger, driving into the baseball fields there are new permanent street signs encouraging social distancing. Is this our new normal?

After hopping the fence, Jeff and the kids set up their stations to begin practicing. I tried to help by chasing down balls every now and then, but they had a great practice routine going and they all worked hard for a solid 2 hours.

After working up a sweat during the practice, it was time to head back home. But not before their new post-practice tradition of stopping for Wendy's chicken nuggets on the drive home. The usual order of 60 nuggets is just what the kids (and Jeff) always need to restore their energy (and good moods) after their hard practice.