Listening to the Fields

Usually when I write about our second son Noah, it is to share one of the escapades that has earned him the nickname "Destructo".  Noah's adventures are legendary and he has garnered his own followers who ask at every market "what did Noah do this week?"  Noah is a young man of many talents.  When Noah isn't taking something apart such as the station wagon headlights or random doorknobs or defying death by climbing on the roof or rappelling up forty foot trees in order to reach even higher trees, he is playing baseball.

Noah plays baseball as a fish might play at swimming or a bird play at flying.  Noah lives and breathes baseball.  Timothy could not wait until his little brother was old enough to play baseball and we had to convince him that it would be better if he waited until Noah was steady on his feet.  Once Noah reached that stage, however, Timothy had a bat or glove in Noah's hand and the game was on.

Beginning your baseball career while still in diapers has it's perks, and Noah early on developed not only a true love for the game but also a very real talent for the game.   I know that every mother thinks that their child is the best, the greatest to ever play the game so all I will say is that Noah took this mom from a long-suffering bleacher-sitter to an avid fan.   He is usually one of the smallest kids on the team, but he is scrappy and daring.  He seems to get an adrenaline rush from challenging the other team when running bases, always in their faces with his threats to steal.  He takes it personally when the other team does likewise and makes it his personal goal to prevent extra bases from being taken.  During one game last year I found myself watching him charging third base to hold a runner threatening to take off for home--and remember, he is the first baseman.  Noah made the game fun to watch, even as a six year old and now that he is eight, I hate missing games.  With our weekly markets it is unavoidable that mom and dad will miss games and we have had to be creative to ensure that Noah missed as few games as possible.  One method we employed several times last season was to have older sister Katarina drop Noah and one of his other older sisters at the ballpark on Kate's way to markets in Houston--usually around 6:30 in the morning.  They would bring books, snacks and the like, and simply "hang out" at the ball fields before the other players began arriving, ensuring that Noah would not have to miss games because mom and dad were in Austin at market.

This year, as last, Noah is on the Waller County All Star team, on first base.  As this post is being written I am in Austin for market, and Noah is in Hempstead at a friend's house waiting to be taken to this afternoon's game.  Last night when dropping him off at Matthew's house, Matthew's mother shared what happened the last time he stayed with them in order to have a ride to a game while we were manning markets.

It seems that Noah was awake at 5 for a game that began at 10.  He was supposed to be at the field at 9 to warm up with the rest of the team.  He as most insistent that Matthew's mom take him to the field early--he wanted to arrive while it was still dark.  She was dumbstruck and firmly told him that no, she would take them to the game when it was time to take them to the game and that he could just be patient.  He insisted that it was very important that he go early.  She tried telling him what time it was, what time his game was to be, etc but he was unmoved.  You see, he explained, he liked going early..to listen to the fields.

Apparently during those times when they were dropped off early and waited for the activities of the day to start, he would sit on the dark baseball diamond in the minutes before the sun came up.  He would listen as the park went from quiet with just the occasional animal noise from the adjacent pastures to full  volume as it filled up with children and their families.  He watched the light change from country-dark to soft, sometimes fog filtered light, to bright morning.

And he listened.