Tag: Relationships

His Words Were Soft And Few

Today would have been my grandfather’s birthday.

Papa Mac passed away 25 years ago when I was 17 years old and a senior in high school. I still remember my dad sitting my sister and me down in the living room to tell us. It might have been the first time I had ever seen him cry.

It doesn’t seem possible that it was that long ago. Twenty-five years is long enough to forget a lot of things, but it’s also long enough to realize which memories never fade.

Memories like going camping, where my dad and Papa Mac would load my sister and me into that old green truck with the camper on the back. We’d drive up to the lake, get our campsite set up, sit around the campfire, fish along the shoreline, and tell stories while we waited for the fish to bite.

Other times we’d be at my grandparents’ house, sitting on the back patio as Papa Mac taught us to play checkers. His famous phrase was always, “Touch man, move man.”

One of my favorite memories is of Papa Mac coming to watch me play baseball. He had emphysema and was on oxygen, so he couldn’t walk over to the fields. Instead, he’d park on the street overlooking them and watch through his binoculars. Standing at second base, I’d turn around between pitches and see him sitting there.

The one thing all of these memories have in common is his presence—but also the quiet.

Papa Mac wasn’t a man of many words. He wore hearing aids, and because they amplified all the sounds around him, he would often turn them off.

Instead of talking, I got to watch him.

I watched him meticulously sort through his fishing gear, explaining what everything was for. I watched him count out the pills he needed each day while letting me put them into his pill organizer. He watched me copy comic strips from the newspaper, helped me assemble school projects, and patiently listened while I babbled on about whatever happened to be on my mind.

He may not be with us anymore, and he never got the chance to meet his great-grandchildren, but the lessons he taught, the stories he told, and the pocket knives he passed down have all become part of the story I now share with my boys—the lore of Papa Mac.

Just a few weeks ago, we were hiking when I came across a plaque explaining that the trails had been built by the California Conservation Corps, a group my grandfather joined after moving to California. It was one of those unexpected reminders that his influence still surrounds me.

His memory lives on through me—and all around me.

We don’t realize it when we’re kids.

We don’t realize our grandparents won’t always be there.

We think of them as eternal. We think they’ll be there for graduations, birthdays, weddings, and holidays. In reality, we’re fortunate if they get to experience even a few of those moments with us. Some people never get to share any of them with their grandparents at all.

Today would have been his birthday.

He would have been 112 years old.

When I was a kid, I was certain he’d live that long.

As an adult, I know what’s really important.

I want Brooks and Joseph to get as much time with my dad as I got with my grandfathers, because one day those ordinary moments will become the stories they tell their own children.

In honor of Papa Mac’s birthday, I wanted to share a song I wrote about him.

Happy Birthday, Papa Mac.

I Still Carry Him With Me

Verse 1

Sitting on the shore, casting into the air
Lines in the water, memories made there
Telling stories as the campfire burned
Passed down that knife, a history learned

Verse 2

Out on the patio, checkers on the board
He watched in silence as my hands moved forward
Before my turn he’d say, “touch man, move man”
Then let me choose and helped me understand

Verse 3

Playing second base, waiting on the next pitch
Turned towards the street cause that’s where he’d sit
In the car, he had his binoculars framed
Watching every inning of my game

Chorus

His words were soft and few
He quietly showed me the way
Learning what I was meant to do
I still carry him with me today

Bridge

Never knew how much I’d miss those moments
The time we spent and the stories we told
I still think of him when I’m sitting alone
And cherish those memories as treasures I hold

Final Chorus

His words were soft and few
He quietly showed me the way
Learning what I was meant to do
I still carry him with me today

I Still Carry Him With Me.mp3Download

Just The Two Of Us

I recently had an unexpected day where it was just Brooks and me.

Those days are becoming rare. Usually our days involve both boys, or we’re all doing something together as a family. But not this time.

Brooks is six and trying to figure out who he is while soaking up influences from television, his cousins, and his friends. Listening can be a challenge. So can attitude sometimes. Before we started our day together, we talked about that. I didn’t want this opportunity for one-on-one time to become another day of correcting behavior. I wanted us to simply enjoy being together.

We started by taking Joseph to school, and then it was just the two of us.

We grabbed breakfast at our favorite coffee shop where Brooks enjoyed a muffin and a smoothie while we talked. We took pictures together and, at his request, had AI turn us into different characters. Then we headed to the store to pick out a birthday present for one of his friends. Of course Brooks left with something too—a World Cup stuffed animal. I’m still a bit of a pushover when it comes to things like that.

The rest of the day looked pretty ordinary.

We stopped for gas.

Went to the bank.

Grabbed lunch.

Delivered an envelope full of Pokémon cards that Brooks had addressed himself to his cousins.

Stopped at the grocery store.

Finished the afternoon at the library where his kindergarten class met up to watch a presentation about the science of bubbles.

From the outside, it probably looked like I was just running errands.

And maybe I was.

But it was also something else.

It wasn’t a grand adventure.

We didn’t do anything extraordinary.

We didn’t turn every stop into a game or every errand into a treasure hunt.

We simply spent the day together.

That opportunity doesn’t come around nearly as often as it used to.

Sure, Brooks and I still watch soccer together, play in the backyard, go to baseball practice, and take family walks around the neighborhood. But those moments usually include Jillian, Joseph, teammates, or friends.

This day was different.

It was just the two of us.

I honestly couldn’t tell you everything we talked about.

What I remember is that we never stopped talking.

There were ridiculous sing-alongs in the car while Brooks tried to decide what his next walk-up song should be.

We wrestled.

We laughed.

We joked.

And somewhere between the coffee shop, the grocery store, and the library, I realized something.

The older Brooks gets, the more I realize that being a father is constantly changing.

Some days he needs comfort.

Some days he needs correction.

Some days he needs someone to laugh with.

Some days he needs someone willing to say no.

The difficult part is figuring out which father he needs today.

Part of me wants him to stay my little buddy forever.

But I know that’s never been my job.

My job isn’t to keep him six years old.

My job is to help him become the man he’s meant to be.

We don’t get to decide who our children become.

We get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk beside them while they figure that out for themselves.

We don’t get to make their mistakes.

But we can help them pick up the pieces afterward.

We don’t get to make their decisions.

But we can prepare them to make good ones.

We don’t get to walk every road for them.

But for a little while…

We get to walk beside them.

Brooks is six today.

One day he’ll be sixteen.

Then twenty-six.

There will come a time when an entire day with Dad isn’t something that simply happens because schedules lined up.

Those days become fewer.

That’s why this day mattered.

Not because of the errands.

Not because of the grocery store.

Not because of the bubble show.

Because for one ordinary day…

It was…

Just the two of us.

Continue the Journey:

If this story resonated with you, here are a few more reflections on fatherhood, growing up, and the moments that quietly shape the relationships we have with our children.

While They Still Ask

There will come a day when your children stop asking you to play one more game, read one more story, or come outside with them. Until then, those simple invitations are some of the greatest gifts a parent can receive.

A Son and a Father

The relationship between a father and his son is never static. As our children grow, our role shifts from protector, to teacher, to coach, to mentor—all while learning to let them become who they were meant to be.

When Errands Turn Into an Adventure

Sometimes the most memorable days aren’t vacations or elaborate plans. They’re ordinary trips to the coffee shop, the grocery store, or the bank that become unforgettable because of the person standing beside us.

It Was Just Tuesday

Yesterday I headed home from work, got changed, and spent some time with the boys while Jillian made dinner. We sat around the table together, and afterward I took the boys for a walk around the neighborhood and through the baseball fields. We ran into some friends, stopped to visit for a while, and then headed home to get the kids ready for bed. After they were asleep, Jillian and I laid down together for a while before getting up to finish a few things around the house, watch a show together, and call it a night.

It was Tuesday.

No special occasion.

No big event on the calendar.

Just a normal evening at home with my family.

Today I found myself thinking about the version of me that existed before I got married and had kids.

What did he think life would look like?

What was he chasing?

If I’m honest, I don’t think he could have imagined this.

Back then I probably pictured coming home from work, grabbing something to eat on the way, sitting on the couch watching a Padres game with friends, and calling it a good night. I don’t think I could have imagined being married to a woman I could only have dreamed about, raising two incredible boys, eating dinner around the family table, taking evening walks through the neighborhood I grew up in, building the blog I had always wanted to write, or working every day toward becoming healthier.

If someone had described that life to me back then, I’m not sure I would have believed it was possible.

We spend so much time dreaming about promotions, bigger houses, vacations, accomplishments, and the future that we overlook another kind of dream entirely.

The quiet ones.

The dreams that don’t arrive with some grand announcement.

They simply become normal.

Family dinners.

Bedtime stories.

Evening walks.

A spouse asking how your day was.

One day you wake up and realize those moments have become so routine that you barely notice them anymore.

But years earlier…

They were the life you were hoping to build.

We spend so much of our lives looking ahead, chasing the next goal, the next milestone, the next achievement—things we can celebrate and tell people about.

Meanwhile, the dreams that matter most are sitting across the dinner table telling you about their day.

This blog was always a dream of mine.

For years I imagined writing about adventures, milestones, and extraordinary moments.

I never imagined I’d be writing about an uneventful Tuesday.

But maybe that’s because I finally understand what I was really chasing.

It wasn’t excitement.

It wasn’t recognition.

It wasn’t some picture-perfect future.

It was this.

Dinner around the table.

A walk with my boys.

Talking with neighbors.

Watching a show with my wife before bed.

Years ago I spent a lot of time wondering what my life might look like someday.

Today I know.

It looks a lot like Tuesday.

Continue the Journey:

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The Gift of Being Nearby

Some of the most meaningful moments with the people we love don’t happen because we planned them. They happen because we’re close enough to simply be there when life unfolds.

Why Ordinary Days Matter More Than Big Moments

Life is rarely defined by vacations, birthdays, or major milestones. More often, it’s shaped by the quiet routines and everyday moments that slowly become our most treasured memories.

A Life, Not a Collection of Parts

The most fulfilling life isn’t one where work, family, health, and personal goals compete for attention. It’s one where those parts begin working together to create something greater than any one of them could alone.

A Masterpiece And A Work In Progress

It feels like just yesterday that we brought Brooks home from the hospital. It was the beginning of the pandemic, and for weeks it was just Jillian, me, and this tiny little boy sitting in our living room trying to figure out how to be parents. We had no idea what we were doing.

That was more than six years ago.

Today I took Brooks up to the fields for hitting practice as he prepares for his first season of Rookies in Little League. At the same time, Joseph took his first swimming lesson in the next level class. Somewhere along the way, those tiny babies became little boys.

It’s amazing how quickly children change.

One day you’re celebrating their first steps.

Before long they’re running laps around the house.

One day you’re reading bedtime stories.

Before long they’re reading them back to you.

Somehow, the things that once felt impossible quietly become ordinary.

And now, when I look at my boys, I don’t just see who they once were or who they are today. I also see who they are becoming.

I picture Brooks growing up on the baseball field, becoming more confident, making lifelong friends, and discovering the man he’ll one day become.

I picture Joseph graduating from preschool, walking into elementary school, trying new sports, and slowly finding his own interests and personality.

But we’re not there yet.

Right now, I’m trying to enjoy the season we’re in and let the future wait until we get there.

The other day I came across a quote that hasn’t left my mind:

“You can be a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously.”

If I had to guess, I’d say that most people read that quote and immediately think about themselves. They think about who they are today while striving to become someone even better.

That isn’t where my mind went.

I immediately thought about Brooks and Joseph.

They make mistakes.

They get frustrated.

They fall down.

They learn.

They grow.

They test boundaries.

They surprise me.

They’re works in progress.

But when I look at them, I don’t see unfinished people.

I see masterpieces.

There are hard days and wonderful days. There are moments that require correction and moments that deserve celebration. There are times when they test every ounce of my patience and other times when they remind me exactly what matters most.

None of those moments change how I see them.

They are, and always will be, my masterpieces.

But if that’s true about my kids…

Why can’t it also be true about me?

Why am I so much harder on myself than I am on them?

Why do I extend grace so freely to my children but withhold it from myself?

Why can’t I believe that I can be both a masterpiece and a work in progress at the same time?

For me, that’s where The Young Napoleon Project comes in.

This project isn’t about fixing a broken life.

It’s about continuing to shape a life that’s already worth living.

It’s an opportunity to become healthier, pursue my writing, become a better husband, and become a better father—not because I’m incomplete without those things, but because growth is part of living.

I’m still becoming.

That doesn’t mean I’m broken.

It simply means the painting isn’t finished yet.

Brooks and Joseph are growing up right before my eyes.

Before I know it, they’ll be teenagers.

Then adults.

They’ll continue changing long after they’ve left home.

But I have a feeling that whenever I look at them, I’ll see every version of them all at once.

The baby we brought home from the hospital.

The little boys running through the living room.

The young men they’ll someday become.

They’ll always be works in progress.

And they’ll always be masterpieces.

Maybe that’s what love really is.

Looking at someone who still has so much growing left to do…

…and seeing the masterpiece anyway.

And maybe we’ve been masterpieces all along too.

Why Ordinary Days Matter More Than Big Moments

When I look back on my life and the memories I’ve made, you might assume I remember the big moments.

And to an extent, you’d be right.

The trip to Hawaii when I was a senior in high school.

The many RV trips through the Southwest with my aunt and uncle.

The weddings I’ve attended.

The funerals.

Christmas mornings.

Birthdays.

Those moments deserve to be remembered.

But when I think about the memories that bring me the most joy, those aren’t the first ones that come to mind.

Instead, I think about drinking coffee with my grandparents around their dining room table.

Playing checkers with my grandpa on the back patio.

Making cookies with my grandma.

My uncle teaching me to body surf.

My dad coaching my baseball teams.

Going to work with my mom and getting to eat lunch in the cafeteria.

The ordinary moments that maybe weren’t so ordinary after all.

Because while the big moments deserve to be remembered, that’s not where life actually happens.

Over the last four weeks of writing these articles, I haven’t written much about extraordinary days.

I’ve written about looking for the robot at Lowe’s.

Walking the boys to the baseball fields.

Swimming lessons.

Coffee shop dates.

Playing cribbage with my dad.

Family hikes.

Papa Pandas.

Monday night softball.

None of those days started with the intention of creating a lifelong memory.

I was simply living my life.

Maybe that’s exactly why they’ll be remembered.

As parents, we’re constantly trying to create magical moments.

Family vacations.

Trips to the zoo.

Christmas mornings.

Birthday parties.

We spend months planning experiences that we hope our kids will remember forever.

But what if that’s not what they’ll remember most?

What if, years from now, they remember holding your hand on a walk?

Throwing rocks into a stream.

Getting ice cream after running errands, something I wrote about in When Errands Turn Into an Adventure.

Playing Catch at the neighborhood ball fields.

Reading one extra chapter before bed.

Doing push-ups with Dad before the cartoons came on, like I shared in Little Eyes Are Always Watching.

What if we’re working so hard to create extraordinary memories that we overlook the ordinary moments that are quietly becoming extraordinary to them?

While writing this post, I came across a wonderful article from The Artful Parent called “8 Everyday Moments Children Remember More Than Parents Realize.” It reminded me that children often attach meaning to the moments we barely notice—the conversations around the dinner table, bedtime stories, neighborhood walks, and all the little routines that quietly become part of their childhood.

That idea is also supported by research from Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child. Their work on “Serve and Return” explains that children grow through thousands of small, responsive interactions with the adults who care for them. Healthy relationships aren’t built during one incredible vacation. They’re built one ordinary moment at a time.

Honestly…

Wouldn’t that be great?

Because most of our lives aren’t extraordinary.

They’re busy.

We go to work while our kids go to school.

We come home to homework and housework.

Practices.

Games.

Laundry.

Dishes.

Bedtime.

And because life feels so busy, we convince ourselves that we need to escape it every once in a while to make memories.

But maybe we’ve been looking in the wrong place.

Maybe memories are made around the dinner table.

On walks around the neighborhood.

By reading one more story before bed.

By letting them stay at the creek five minutes longer.

By giving them a hug before school.

By buying a small treat while you’re already out running errands.

If that’s true, then we don’t have to wait for vacation to build a childhood they’ll remember.

We can do it today.

Tomorrow morning I’ll wake up, go through my morning routine, have breakfast, take Brooks to my mom’s house, and head to work.

After work we’ll probably have dinner.

I’ll do a few things around the house while a soccer game plays in the background.

Then I’ll help put Brooks to bed while Jillian puts Joseph down.

On paper…

That sounds like a completely ordinary day.

But what if Brooks decides to do push-ups with me again?

What if something funny happens over breakfast?

What if we spend dinner laughing about our day?

What if Brooks and I celebrate the same goal during the soccer game?

What if he reads more of the bedtime story to me than I read to him?

What if what began as an ordinary Tuesday quietly becomes one of the days he’ll remember years from now?

I’m done waiting for extraordinary moments.

Instead, I’m going to pay better attention to the ordinary ones.

Because life isn’t lived between vacations.

It’s lived on Tuesday nights.

And I have a feeling that’s where the memories are made.

Continue the Journey

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From My Reading List

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Why Fathers Need Friends

As a kid I had a lot of friends. There were friends from baseball, church, classmates that I got together with for birthdays, pool parties, and play dates. But as I got older some of those friendships disappeared. I became introverted and shy, had trouble talking to people I didn’t know, and that probably only got worse through high school. By the time I entered adulthood, I didn’t have many friendships I could fall back on.

Then in college I reconnected with some people I had known when I was younger, joined an already established group of friends, and created some strong bonds that would eventually be tested once we started getting married and having kids of our own. Suddenly, Friday nights out, random baseball games, and last-minute rounds of golf became much harder to come by. We had to become intentional about making plans. Friendships became more group-text based and less face-to-face.

Since then I’ve missed those friendships—not because they’ve gone away, but because the connections aren’t as frequent. I turn down more invitations than I accept because of family commitments, something already on the calendar, or sometimes because I’d simply rather be home with Jillian and the boys. That’s a choice I’m making, and I don’t regret it. But I do recognize the tradeoff.

Thankfully, I have a few recurring events on my calendar that give me the opportunity to reconnect with friends. They get me out of the house, give me a chance to talk with other dads, catch up on life, vent about work, celebrate our kids, and occasionally enjoy an adult beverage together. I’ve written before about Papa Pandas and about my Monday Night Softball team. Looking back, I realize those weren’t really stories about a volunteer group or a softball team. They were stories about friendship.

Yesterday Brooks and I went to a birthday party for one of his buddies—the son of one of my closest friends. Most of the adults there were people I used to spend countless hours with, and now I only see them on special occasions. Driving home, I found myself wondering:

What happened?

Why do friendships become so much harder to maintain as we get older?

Why is it so difficult to make new friends as adults?

As it turns out, this isn’t just my experience. Over the last several years, researchers have begun talking about what some call the “male friendship recession.” One widely discussed survey found that the percentage of men reporting six or more close friends has dropped dramatically over the past few decades, while the number of men reporting no close friends has steadily increased. (fatherhoodframework.substack.com)

I think the answer is actually pretty simple.

Time.

And opportunity.

As kids, we’re surrounded by potential friends every day. We spend six hours sitting next to classmates, run around together at recess, head to baseball practice after school, go to church on Sundays, attend youth groups, karate classes, Scouts, birthday parties, and play dates. We’re constantly placed in environments where friendships naturally develop, and our biggest concern is usually just having fun.

As adults, we’re the ones taking our kids to school before heading to work. We spend eight hours behind a desk or on a job site, then rush to daycare pickup, make dinner, shuttle kids to practices, help with homework, get everyone to bed, and collapse under the weight of the day. Weekends are filled with games, tournaments, grocery shopping, yard work, paying bills, and trying to carve out a little time with our spouse before Monday rolls around again.

There simply isn’t much room left.

Friendships have to become more intentional as adults. They rarely happen by accident anymore. If we want to maintain the relationships we’ve built—or create new ones—we have to make space for them on the calendar just like we do doctor’s appointments, baseball practice, or date night.

And that intentionality matters.

Research has found that fathers who maintain close friendships tend to feel less isolated and are better equipped to handle the stresses of raising young children. One large survey found that nearly a quarter of fathers reported feeling isolated after becoming dads, while fathers with close friendships experienced lower stress and better overall well-being. (Ipsos)

That’s why I don’t see friendships as a distraction from being a good father.

I see them as part of becoming one.

Spending time with friends gives me the opportunity to vent a little, laugh a little, and realize I’m not the only dad navigating tantrums, sleepless nights, youth sports schedules, and all the uncertainty that comes with raising kids. It reminds me that other dads have the same fears, the same hopes, and many of the same questions that I do.

When I come home after those nights, I’m usually more patient.

A better listener.

A better husband.

A better father.

Papa Pandas isn’t just an excuse to get out of the house for dinner and drinks.

Softball isn’t just a way to get some exercise.

They’re communities.

They’re support systems.

They’re reminders that I don’t have to figure this whole fatherhood thing out by myself.

When I wrote Every Season Comes to an End, I reflected on the friendships I’ve built through Papa Pandas and how one day my season there will eventually end. That only reinforced something I’ve been learning over the last year: friendships don’t survive because we care about them. They survive because we continue showing up.

One day my kids will be older, and hopefully life will slow down a little. Maybe my friendships will begin to look more like my dad’s old Minute Men softball team—a group of guys who still get together for lunch decades after they stopped playing. I hope so.

Until then, I’m going to keep being intentional about maintaining the friendships I already have while remaining open to new ones.

Because in the end…

It isn’t really about the meetings.

Or Monday night’s batting average.

Or the dinners.

It’s about showing up for the people who make my life richer, challenge me to become a better man, and remind me that I don’t have to navigate fatherhood alone.

When I come home after those dinners, meetings, or Monday night games, I’m not just a guy who got out of the house for a little while.

I’m a better husband.

A better father.

And, I hope, a better friend.

Continue the Journey

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Further Reading

If you’d like to explore this topic further, these are excellent resources:

Every Season Comes To An End

Last night I had a Papa Pandas event. It was a send-off for the dads whose kids are graduating from the elementary school and moving on to middle school. They’ll still likely come to meetings and support the Papa Pandas moving forward, but their time as dads with children at the school has come to an end.

We celebrated with dinner and drinks, and a few of us stayed until almost 11:00 watching the World Cup, talking, and enjoying one another’s company before I finally called an Uber and headed home.

As I sat around with these dads, who have now become friends, I couldn’t help but think back to my first meeting almost two years ago.

When I wrote about Papa Pandas a few weeks ago, I talked about walking up to that restaurant not knowing who I was looking for until I spotted a couple of guys wearing Papa Panda hats. I didn’t know any of them. I didn’t know if I’d fit in.

Now it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made.

Saying goodbye to a couple of the dads who welcomed me into the group—the same dads I’d worked alongside blowing up balloons for Panda Prom, setting up projector screens for movie night, and organizing school events—made me realize something.

Not that long ago…

they were the new dads walking into their first meeting.

Just like I was.

And somehow, without anyone really noticing, enough time had passed that their season at the school had come to an end.

That thought hit me harder than I expected.

One day Brooks will finish elementary school.

A couple of years after that, Joseph will too.

My time will come to move from active member to Papa Panda alumnus.

I’ll still come to meetings because these guys have become much more than a dads group. They’ve become friends. Just like I wrote in Softball on Monday Nights, friendships don’t survive because they’re important. They survive because people continue making time for one another.

I’ll still show up.

I’ll still welcome the new dads walking into their first meeting.

But it won’t be the same.

I’m not ready to think about that because it means my boys are getting older.

And as much as I wish I could keep them little…

I can’t.

We spend so much time taking the kids to school, picking them up, coaching their sports teams, taking them to karate, reading bedtime stories, helping with homework, and simply being there whenever they need us.

Sometimes it feels like we’ll be doing those things forever.

But we won’t.

Every one of those moments has a season.

Eventually they’ll have cars of their own.

They’ll stay up later than we do.

They’ll outgrow youth sports.

The bedtime stories will end.

The walks to the baseball field that I wrote about in Playing Catch will become less frequent until one day we don’t even realize we’ve taken the last one.

It’s hard to imagine that much time passing.

But it’s exactly what we want for our children.

We want them to grow.

We want them to become capable, independent adults.

Even if getting there means leaving behind the seasons we love the most.

The Papa Pandas was created to support dads while their children are in elementary school. It’s become much more than that because of the friendships we’ve built, but its purpose is still tied to a season of life.

One day I’ll attend my last meeting as the dad of an elementary school student, just as the dads we celebrated last night already have.

For now, though, I’m going to enjoy the season I’m in.

I’m going to appreciate the people who make it better.

I’m going to keep showing up.

Because the goal isn’t to hold onto the seasons that have passed.

It’s to be fully present and thankful for the one we’re living right now.

Related Posts

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like:

  • Papa Pandas — How one dinner invitation turned into a community of dads and lasting friendships.
  • Softball on Monday Nights — Why friendships survive when we keep making time for one another.
  • Playing Catch — The ordinary evenings that someday become our favorite memories.

Softball On Monday Nights

Growing up, my dad played on a softball team called the Minute Men.

I remember going to the games, sitting on the bench with the guys, and running out to collect the bats after they hit. Some of those guys still play softball or over-the-line today, but that team itself has long since come and gone.

What hasn’t gone away are the friendships.

A few of those guys still get together for lunch every month or so. Whenever my dad comes home from one of those lunches, he tells me who showed up, where they went, and what everyone has been up to. Some of the guys have passed away. Others have moved. But the ones who are still around keep showing up.

Now I’m older and I play on my own softball team.

Ironically, we didn’t start as a softball team at all. More than ten years ago we were an indoor soccer team. Back then everything was competitive. There were arguments with referees, heated games, and an obsession with winning.

It’s not like that anymore.

Now we’re a co-ed team-pitch softball team playing in the lowest division on Monday nights.

Sometimes we win.

Usually we don’t.

In all the years we’ve been playing together, we’ve only won one championship.

But that’s not really why we’re there.

The team has changed over the years. People have come and gone. Most of us are married now. Most of us have kids. Sometimes those kids come to the games. Most of the time there isn’t anyone in the stands.

We show up thirty minutes early, take some swings in the batting cages, warm up, play for an hour, and then head back to our normal lives.

Some games are immediately after work when everyone is rushing to get there.

Other games don’t start until after the kids have gone to bed, and we’re all wishing we were already asleep too.

But we keep coming back.

Season after season.

I don’t know exactly why everyone else plays.

Maybe some miss their younger baseball days.

Maybe some enjoy the competition.

Maybe some like the exercise.

For me, it’s about the friendships.

It’s about maintaining relationships that have been part of my life for so long that I don’t want to watch them slowly disappear.

Sure, part of me still enjoys pretending I’m twelve years old and back on a baseball field.

But mostly it’s about the people.

When we first started playing together, none of us had the responsibilities we have now.

No spouses.

No kids.

No mortgages.

No school events, birthday parties, sports practices, work obligations, church meetings, home projects, or endless items on a to-do list.

Back then we were looking for something to do.

Now we have too much to do.

That’s why things like softball matter.

Not because they’re important on their own.

Because if they aren’t on the calendar, they get replaced by something else.

And when the time together disappears, the friendships slowly start to fade with it.

Not because they matter any less.

Simply because relationships require time.

The Minute Men went through the same thing.

Eventually life got busy. Bodies got older. The softball games stopped.

But now they’ve figured something out.

The lunches are on the calendar.

Each month somebody picks the restaurant.

Whoever can make it shows up.

Because that’s what keeps friendships alive.

Showing up.

I don’t know how long we’ll keep playing softball on Monday nights.

Hopefully long enough for my boys to come watch a few games.

But I do know that if softball ends, it will need to become something else.

A lunch.

A poker night.

A monthly dinner.

Something.

Because friendships don’t survive on memories alone.

They survive because people continue making time for each other.

I need those guys in my life.

And I hope I can be someone they need too.

So for now, I’ll keep showing up on Monday nights.