If you are a fan of the Mets, Padres, and Cardinals, your high hopes in April are that of a very distant past. With the unofficial midway point of the 2023 baseball season now behind us, these teams have a crucial few weeks to turn their seasons around before they become sellers at the August 1st trade deadline.

As a Mets fan, the natives are restless, calling for firings and change in personnel, especially after losing the last two games against the Padres this past weekend after a short-lived six-game winning streak.

An eternal optimist, I still wonder what if. What if they make a magical run in the second half, making up for the dumpster fire of a season thus far? I know many in San Diego and St. Louis feel the same.

As I ponder this year, I ask in the few moments of silence available as a dad of two young girls, what can this disappointing season (thus far) teach me as a parent.

I wonder if one of the lessons is that the beauty of baseball, and of life, is that there is always tomorrow. And when the losses come for our team and our children (as they always do), will we stay or will we go?

Will we support, even when we are frustrated, angry, or disheartened? Will we accompany instead of abandon?

Brooklyn Dodgers fans were well known to say, “wait till’ next year,” as most seasons ended in sadness. This of course changed in 1955 when they finally won it all. Their fan remained loyal to the end.

When the Dodgers moved west two years later, we were reminded of the heartbreak that often is at risk when we choose to love.

As a dad, there are times when I simply do not understand. A temper tantrum, failed spelling test, or snotty response may cause me to wonder- where did I and we go wrong.

Thankfully, I soon realize that these are all teachable moments. They invite growth and an opportunity for a better result tomorrow.

For our baseball teams, we hope for the same. They get paid either way, but we believe they are united with us in our hopes for victory and success. These distant stars may never know our names, but our children certainly do.

Our children will recall how we responded in the slumps and losing streaks of life, and if they are blessed to have others entrusted to their care in a future season, they will likely replicate what we teach them now.

May we be reminded, from the stands cheering on our favorite team to ordinary life rooting on our extraordinary loved ones, that there is freedom in their choices, actions, and a bit of mystery and competition.

Poet Kahlil Gibran writes in his poem, On Children, the following:

  “Your children are not your children.
     They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
     They come through you but not from you,
     And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.”

Our job is to love, to inspire and to support. There will be seasons of disappointment- will we be by their side? This yes will only make the celebratory seasons even more joyful and when all our seasons come to an end, we will be able to say with peace and a trusting smile, wait till’ the next life when we will reunite again in love.