You've Been Replaced!

We spent some time this past August in Spokane, WA, with Tarina's side of the family for her brother's wedding.  One afternoon while I was doing a little painting on Tarina's sister's house, my son Wesley asks if I'd come and throw him a few pitches.  Being up on a ladder and not wanting to quit the section half-way through, I tell him 'in a little bit'.  I didn't say 'no', I didn't say 'maybe', I went with the next best parent cop out of 'in a little bit', knowing full well that in 'a little bit', set against the whole of time, could span anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours!

After I finished what I was doing, I went to find Wes to excitedly tell him that 'in a little bit' had indeed come to fruition and it was time for baseball!  Except Wes hadn't waited for 'in a little bit'.  He had found two older kids from the neighborhood (again, we're in Spokane so it's not like Wes knows anyone!) and got one to pitch to him and the other to field his hits.  When he saw me, he looked at me, smiled and said "you've been replaced!".

I had two thoughts- the first was admiration that he 'led up' and found two older boys to play with him!  But that's for a different post! 

My second thought was 'ouch'!

I'm not ready to be replaced, though I know that time is coming sooner than later.  I don't want to be the guy who's too busy that he misses out on pitching or playing catch.  So, I took over as pitcher and all of us- Wes, me, the neighbor boys- played some baseball.

And while stuff needs to get done- and there are times I'll choose to get stuff done- I'm reminded also to not get so busy, otherwise "I'll be replaced".