Fun on the 4th

Family holidays are always fun, and the 4th of July is one of the best. I’m not certain the boys fully understand the meaning behind it yet, but they sure do enjoy celebrating. This year, we had plans to go to Uncle Glendon’s for the 4th to play ball with the kids. Knowing that was our destination was all it took to have them excited about what the day would bring.

See, Uncle Glendon has a “Field of Dreams” of sorts that he has manicured out of the pasture behind his house in the country. Back stop, base lines, flag flying on the outfield fence. When Cooper turned two, he had a birthday party there, his name spray painted on the grass in front of home plate in big, orange letters. They love that place, and playing with all the cousins who gather there.

Equally, they love the time they spend with the other half of their family. They faithfully keep track of “who’s turn” it is to come stay with Grandmother (one triplet at a time), and when the big cousins get the chance to come too? Well, that’s just icing on the cake. And now we have “babies” at Grandmother Martha’s house again, so Brisco especially is in total hog heaven.

That being said, it is clear why kids can sometimes be torn in two directions. Thus, mom and dad typically function from the mindset of “What they don’t know won’t hurt them”. We make the executive decision and the boys are none the wiser.

This year it was our turn to travel, so we hadn’t even mentioned to the boys that they would be missing their Mama’s family and the big Sentinel parade; however, there was one little glitch in our plan: Rain

We found out on Friday that the Brantley Ballgame had been postponed. “It’s in a rain delay,” as Brisco put it. So suddenly, we were planning to watch a parade in Sentinel, one they hadn‘t even realized they were missing.

Now, one year earlier, this would have been an easy adjustment for our family to make. Until last July 4th, the boys had no idea that they could actually be in the parade, or cause the parade to go on lock down, which is what Cooper did with his race to the front of the pack. Until then, we had only watched parades…well, and gathered candy, lest we forget our younger boy’s sweet tooth.

But being in town for the parade this year meant that we were a little sad that we didn’t have Teague’s “floor-liter” to drive or a motorized gator that we could crawl into, resembling a miniature Daddy working on the ball field. No, at a moment’s notice, all we had were two bicycles and four feet. So we decided to put them to good use.

I took the boys to line up for the parade and left them to the good will of another dad who had planned to walk with his kids. “I’ll keep an eye on them,” he offered. I figured one eye probably wouldn’t be enough, but I said, “Thanks” and went to take my spot on the street to gather Brisco a bag of candy like I had promised.

As the parade began, so did the drizzle. I wasn’t sure how the boys would fare on the wet pavement, but evidently it wasn’t the pavement that gave them problems. As they finally came into my sights, I could see that Cooper was struggling, and the helpful, responsible dad said, “He’s having a little trouble. He seems to have a flat.”

Indeed he did, and just as we wheeled Cooper off the street, Brisco spotted me waving to him and decided he wanted to check out my candy-gathering skills. But instead of easing over to where we were standing, he made a hard right--right into the sweet little boy of the nice, helpful dad who had offered to look out for our boys. “Look out!”

After I helped the little boy up, dragged my kids off the street and consoled Cooper over his flat tire, we managed to make our way to the park, candy bag in hand, and enjoy a cool morning of all the rest that Sentinel had to offer.

Yes, a day of food, friends, family, and of course a little baseball is all these boys really need on the 4th. Regardless of where we spend the holidays, it’s a sure thing that we’ll be doing it with flare. Whether they’re falling through hay bales at Mamaw’s or causing crashes on Main Street in Sentinel, there is always trouble to be found, fun to be had, and memories to be made.

And that’s All in a day’s work!