A Game of Catch

During my recent second go-round with Covid, I caught up on some reading and television-watching.  I watched a movie I hadn’t seen before and the last thirty minutes or so of one of my all-time favorites.  The new-to-me movie was Guardians of the Galaxy 2; eventually,  I’ll catch up on all the Marvel movies.  One scene got me thinking and it was reinforced by watching the end of Field of Dreams a couple of days later. In each movie, a grown son plays catch with the father he either never knew or had been estranged from.  I played catch with my dad a lot, sometimes with a baseball and more often tossing a football.  We always had a basketball goal so we shot a lot of hoops together, too, and, of course, spent a few hours tossing Frisbees back and forth.  Seeing those movies and the impact the game of catch had on the sons reminded me how special it was to have those times with my dad.

I am the father of three girls so one might think I didn’t have a chance to play catch with my children.  Not true, although our games of “catch” often involved kicking a soccer ball.  But we did sometimes toss around a baseball or football. Once, four of us were heading to the North Carolina mountains to visit family and pick up our oldest daughter from camp. Our car broke down about an hour away from their house (hello new transmission) and we called my brother-in-law who came and picked up my wife and youngest daughter.  My daughter Megan and I rode in the tow truck to the dealership where we waited for my brother-in-law to pick us up after dropping off the other two and our luggage.  For such a time as this I kept a Nerf football in the car.  I pulled it out and Megan and I played catch in that dealership parking lot for an hour or so.  I don’t remember much else about that trip, but I can still picture that beautiful Saturday summer evening in a closed dealership parking lot tossing a Nerf ball with my daughter chatting about nothing and everything.  Such is the power of a game of catch.  We know it’s not the game that’s important, but the time spent together. 

Father’s Day is coming and children of all ages will be giving goofy gifts, funny greeting cards, grilling tools, golf shirts (does anyone give ties anymore?), among other things.  Some dads will take naps, some will grill, some will play golf, some (hopefully many) will be in church with their families.  I believe the best and truest gift of Father’s Day is simply the opportunity to be a father.  The responsibility is daunting because a father should be striving to model the love of the Father, a standard none of us can hope to achieve.  But what a joy to love and be loved by your kids! To see them grow and learn and thrive despite the mistakes you make as a parent. It is an awesome, rewarding, taxing, fun, crazy responsibility and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  Plus, if God smiles on you, someday you’ll reap the rewards of being a grandad!

I’m old now which qualifies me to give unsolicited advice. And the advice I’m giving should not be new to anyone. Dads, play catch with your kids. Catch may be tossing a ball, or it may be fishing, or it may be shopping, or it may be reading a book together, or it may be hiking, or it maybe playing in the pool, or any number of things. “Catch” means spending one-on-one time with your child.  I treasure the times I had with each and all of my girls, but I know I could have done better, could have taken more time to invest in them.  Time is precious and it is the biggest resource we waste. Use it on relationships, especially with your kids. The time you invest in them now will shape them into the adults you want them to be who will, in turn, invest in their kids.

My dad has been gone nearly ten years now.  I’d love the opportunity to play catch with him again, but that won’t happen this side of eternity.  I’m hoping that in that “big, big yard where we can play football” I’ll have the chance to pick up a glove or a football, look across a span of rich green grass, and send a ball toward my dad.  And then I’ll turn and catch a ball from one of my daughters who will have caught it from one of her children. And won’t that be grand?

Happy Father’s Day!