A wise man (my dad) used to always say after a tough loss, a bad game, a hard test, trial... "There are two things that are for sure - The sun will always come up and I will always love you."
Well last night I had to give that same difficult pep talk to Jake. His team, the Riverdogs, lost to the Riverbandits in the Four Peaks Little League Minors Division Championship - check that, they got run ruled. It was ugly. Our team threw about 6000 wild pitches and pass balls and that many bases were stolen on us. I think only 2 of their many runs were a result of batted balls. Jake was devastated, heartbroken and emotional. He puts his all in every sport he plays, so it hurts that much more when he loses.
I had to be on the other end of the pep talk. I took Jake in my arms and gave him the biggest hug, which in hindsight wasn' t the smartest thing to do, it got his emotions all worked up again. I told him I was proud of his hard work, his good sportsmanship, his wonderful season. Then I told him the sun will come up tomorrow and that I loved him.
Do you know what? The sun came up this morning. Jake is happy and he has moved on.
And I still love him.
It's a Dad classic and I have had to use it myself I guess when the sun doesn't come up is when we have to worry.
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