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My life can be mapped by ball fields. The dust and mud of baseball fields; the windy, unshaded 
terrain of soccer fields; and the brightly illuminated green glow of football fields under the night sky. In addition, I’ve spent months inside stuffy gymnasiums echoing with the squeak of athletic shoes and the thudding of basketballs. I can chart the seasons by what’s in the back of my minivan. In the winter, basketballs jostle with ski gear, stray gloves and soggy knit caps. Spring arrives with soccer balls clunking around in the trunk, and the odor of sweaty cleats permeating the air. Summer brings wet beach towels, stray flip-flops and small coolers filled with melting ice. Autumn means a car full of quilts, stadium chairs and mouth guards in my coffee holder/Cindy Hval, SR. More here.
Question: What sports were are your kids involved in? If you no longer have kids/grandkids involved in sports, do you miss it?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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Cis on March 26 at 12:53 p.m.
When my grandson was in soccer, I would take him to practice and Mom picked him up after work… also I use to take him to the field to practice … with both of us running aback and forth kicking the ball, and stealing it away from each other…I would watch the games if I wasn’t working..
I miss the time… he is 18 now.
Stickman on March 26 at 8:28 p.m.
I am like Cis, I miss the time. I raised two sons that spent their entire childhood on ballfields, and did very well at it. I followed them around like a proud Father would, and have no regrets. Such memories are those.
Stickman on March 26 at 9:12 p.m.
I feel for MamaJd, as she is doing the same. I have been to one of her child’s games, and loved it. I will do the same this upcoming season, and love it even more.
Me on March 26 at 9:59 p.m.
We did the motorcycle thing. Camping, riding. And BMXduring the week. My son will be 21 next month. He says his childhood of camping (with friends) and riding motorcycles with them and his Dad, was the best ever. He also says “can’t we just all go camping one more time?”.