Caught Looking

Missed opportunities.

Life is full of 'em. I've certainly had mine and, based on my less-than-stellar track record, will have plenty more as long as I continue to get out of bed each morning.

When you're a dad, you see plenty of opportunities slide by, whether you're simply too tired to take advantage, too busy with work, or think, "oh, we'll get to that another day."

You know how the story goes with the later: an unforeseen event happens – I hope nothing life threatening – and snatches that perfect opportunity away.

Yep, like when the batting cages down the street were replaced back in the spring with giant, inflatable bouncing houses.

Don't get me wrong, those things are great and my kids love them, but I cringe every time I drive by, realizing that I never took my son and daughter to hack away at 60-mph fastballs at the cages.

We live in a small town of about 6,500 people, so there's a good chance we'll never, ever see batting cages in our neck of the woods again. That makes the thought of my missed opportunities even worse.

My son will be 7 years old this week, and so far, has shown very little interest in baseball.

I know he's still young and there's plenty of time, but if I had just put off cutting the grass for an hour one summer day, I may not have missed a perfect opportunity to create, for my son and daughter, a lifetime of memories.