A lesson from my dad

My mom and dad are bother major positive influences in my life. My mother took more of an interest in my future career in meteorology, even if it was a feigned. She listens to me when I have a dire forecast and takes my job very seriously. I love her for this. My dad had more to do with my love of sports.

My dad is a taciturn man, not prone to hysterics or ranting. (And knowing my mom, I don’t know WHERE I get any of this from, seriously). He took his job as a father seriously, and whether it was on purpose or not, he taught me two of his best lessons via baseball.

First, the lesson was respect. Respect your opponent, respect officials, respect teammates, respect tradition and above all, respect yourself. Demand the same respect for yourself that you feel you deserve. Understand that to err is human, and that if someone makes a mistake, that’s no reason to treat them as something less than a dignified human being. Show respect, and you will earn respect. Basically, because of my dad’s unspoken lessons, respect is a pretty big deal to me.

Second, he taught me, in his own, quiet way, never to quit. See things through all the way to the end. I’m not very good at sports, but I was never allowed to leave the team. I made the commitment to sign up, and it was my responsibility to see the season through. In this never quit, see things through lesson was the subtext of accepting your responsibilities and putting up your best effort. Why do you think that I keep working at this blog daily? Let me tell you, it’s part love for writing, and a lot of “never give up” spirit. It certainly isn’t the high readership.

So, one of those lessons came up today. I spent time with my girlfriend and her family at the Twins game today. They had a family function to leave for, which they did at the beginning of the rain delay. I stuck it out. I waited out the rain delay, I waited out 5 more innings of baseball, and then, when I was muttering to myself “this better not go to 16” when there were two outs, in the bottom 15th, Denard Span rewarded me and my fathers 29 years of teaching with a game winning single.

Thank you Denard.

Thank you, Dad.