The month of August adds wonder to your days and nights
- col-lee-elliot-aging-graciously
- August 17, 2023
- 707
I love August — that time of year right around the corner from my favorite season. Despite the heat and humidity, you can feel the edge of fall holding off just enough to make you think summer may never end. And yet there is a tinge of color change, a smell, a sense of excitement that heightens your feeling of well-being and adds wonder to your days and nights.
The garden is exploding with more bounty than I or my neighbors deserve. They hurry into their houses when they see me picking zucchini. I, on the other hand, am canning, freezing, dehydrating and cooking against the next emotion — dread of winter. My shelves are full, and I must admit I am beginning to wonder when I will stop wanting to do all this. It still makes me happy knowing those colorful displays are chemical free and inexpensive and that I like it all better than fast food. The only thing better would be to be able to raise my own chickens and fish, but that would mean I would have to kill them, so I’m better off with just veggies and fruit.
One of my greatest pleasures this time of year is watching Little League Baseball regionals on TV. These are the teams that have made it through the season unscathed, trying their hardest to get to the World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. They are outfitted now in the finest of matching uniforms and safety devices. Their stances at the plate rival those of Major League players. Their demeanors are serious. Ten teams from the U.S. and 10 from around the world will compete for that final title of World Series champion.
Under those hats with perfectly squeezed and shaped bills, you get glimpses of the faces. Boys at this age are a huge mix of sizes. Between 10 and 12 years, there may be a few 5-foot-tall 90-pounders and a few 5-foot-5 200-pounders and everything in between. Up close there is not a whisker to be seen.
The remarkable thing to me is their sense of self-discipline and sportsmanship. This, of course, goes back to the wonderful parents and coaches who have brought them this far through these values. You do not see coaches yelling at or scolding their players, only encouraging. Parents are well-behaved and positive, sometimes cheering for players on the other team. It is a bargain made by people who not only care deeply about the game and encouraging the love of it, but also about the training of vulnerable young minds and bodies.
I am a firm believer in competition. This is where values are learned — winning, losing, working hard to improve, watching those who are better and learning from them. It is where we learn to take a good look at ourselves and determine whether we want to blame our shortcomings on others or to make changes in our own attitudes. As winners we hopefully learn humility, as losers, good sportsmanship and the desire to do better.
Now the girls have caught up with the boys. Softball is really fun to watch too. I don’t know how I’m going to get all this done with so many vegetables waiting and so many teams to watch. What I do know is that at the end of the day, at the end of the game, those tough competitors are still the sweet-faced little angels you kiss goodnight.