The best marriages are built on teamwork. Whether you strike out or hit it out of the park, you’ll have another chance at bat.
____
I was born with a baseball mitt on my left hand.
I know you think I’m kidding but I’m serious. I can remember how it felt and the smell of that Rawlings leather filling my newly formed nostrils.
To this day it’s still one of my favorite smells. At 52 I’m still totally in love with the game and would rather be at a baseball game than anywhere else on earth. It doesn’t matter who’s playing or where the game is.
I do prefer watching young people play over pros since they are still only playing for love.
So this is when the comparison starts.
Marriage is like baseball.
Some do it for love, some do it for money, some do it to keep occupied, some do it because their parents want them to do it, and some do it because their friends are doing it.
Which one are you?
Are you playing for love? Money? To keep busy? For your parents? For your friends?
As a player for most of my life and then as a coach for 14 years I studied the game of baseball every day.
I watched the warm-ups (dating) I watched the game (one day in your marriage) and I watched as the game ends, each team after shaking hands returns to their respective dugouts to reflect on victory or defeat (thinking about your day before going to bed.)
Each day spent as a couple is one game of baseball.
We get up in the morning as the starting pitcher determined to throw a strike. If you’re a hitter you dream of getting a hit, maybe even knocking in a run or two. If you’re in the field, when that ball comes your way you dream of making an amazing catch and of course the big out. Maybe even catching the final out in the ninth inning to secure the win for your team (your family.)
Some days we give up a home run. We strike out. And of course we make the dreaded error to cost our team the game.
Then we have to face our teammates and coaches (spouse and kids) and even though they tell us it’s okay, we still feel horrible.
However, if you’re lucky, you have a game tomorrow and you’ll have a chance to redeem yourself by grabbing that bat and getting that hit or throwing that game ending strikeout to win or even making that routine play in the field to secure the win.
♦◊♦
Don’t forget plenty of games you don’t do any of these things and your team can still win or lose.
So in reality maybe we should look at each game (each day of marriage) as an opportunity. An opportunity to play on a team. To be in the game. To enjoy the experience for just that. A chance to play the game we love.
To smell that leather. To be outside. And to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.
Yeah marriage is just like baseball. Some days you win, some days you lose, but you always want to play again.
So next time you look into the eyes of your husband or wife, partner, boyfriend or girlfriend, remember you are just two kids playing the greatest game ever. The game of love.
Hopefully, you can’t wait to get Home.
“Play Ball…”
♦◊♦
Originally published: The Marriage Boss Blog
Photo: Tim Donovan/Flickr
♦◊♦