Rain

July 8, 2020

I usually take off around one o’clock when I go to the office.  That gives me time in the morning to tend to my garden, read my paper, write, and then post my blog, and accomplish anything else that needs to be done around the house.  Rather than soda, I have been drinking flavored water and lately it has been hard to find.  Melissa mentioned she received a post from the grocery that a new shipment was in.  I wanted to hit the store on my way to the office before it was all gone.  By the time I got to the store the rain was beginning to come down.  When I came out (no, the water was already gone) and got on the highway it was raining so hard my 4-wheel drive was hydroplaning.  I decided to call and let them know I had been rained out.

Getting rained out always had negative connotations when I was a boy.  It usually meant it was raining too hard to play our baseball game.  If the game had started the umpires tried to continue the game for as long as they could before stopping play.  The problem for any level of baseball is whether to call a rain delay, a suspended game, or to cancel the rest of the game.  In Little League if you make it through the fourth inning it is an official game and the team leading wins.  For Major League Baseball the fifth inning is the threshold.  When a game was suspended there was always a problem trying to schedule a makeup game.

Rain did not bother me when I later played football.  That was especially true when I shifted to only playing defense.  I guess they figured we were all going to end up on the ground sooner or later so footing was not an issue.   When I was on defense bad footing was to my advantage.  It meant the speedy backs could not get traction to outrun me nor could they make their elusive cuts to get around me.  The only time rain stops a football game is for lightening.  Then once again you have the problem of determining who wins.

THOUGHTS:  When I played pickup baseball or football there was usually one kid who brought the ball.  While this was not always the same kid, we rarely had more than one ball.  Occasionally, the owner of the ball would get mad about something during the game and they would leave.  Hence the term, take your ball and go home.  We are no longer children and we can no longer act like we are.  When we disagree, we cannot just take our ball and go home.  For one thing, we live in a time where there are various balls brought to the game.  We need to both listen and hear what is being said without reacting negatively and leaving.  When you go home it just means your voice will not be included in the outcome.  If you can, work to keep the conversation going.