Mom certainly knows best

Resslin' Around by Casey Ressler

When the 11-year-old boy comes off the mound and walks straight to the car at the end of a baseball game, tears welling up in his eyes as he knows his best wasn't good enough, the arm that goes around him is that of a mom, a mom who probably never played the game, doesn't understand how to compute an earned-run average and who thinks that it actually doesn't matter who wins or loses, but rather how you played the game that matters most.

Still, that hug comes from Mom, who knows everything and is just good enough at hiding the fact she knows everything.

Years down the line, that hug is what he'll remember from that game -- not the fact his fastball wasn't fast, he struck out with the winning run at second base or he was out at the plate. That hug will stay with him. That's what mothers are for.

Every kid has that game -- for me, it was when I was 12 and we were eliminated from the all-star tournament against Abbott-O-Rabbitt Little League. That game was more important than Game 7 of the World Series in our minds, and we had lost. I couldn't tell you the score, but as clear as day, I remember my parents trying to take the obligatory postgame photograph as I choked back tears just long enough for my mom to put down the camera and hug me, at which point I sobbed like, well, like a 12-year-old who had just lost his last baseball game.

Mothers are special people, able to do special things that the rest of us non-mothers will never fully understand.

They are able to have one child at hockey practice, another at band practice a half-hour later, get them both picked up on time, grab something for dinner along the way, and be home looking as unfrazzled as one could look after traveling from the Butte to the Brett (Memorial Ice Arena) in less than 20 minutes elapsed time, including the 17 minutes spent picking up a cooked chicken at Fred Meyer for dinner.

Mothers are able to anticipate needs before they ever happen, recognize every dangerous situation minutes in advance and they always, always have the best interests of their children at heart. You may not recognize it at the time, but they really do know everything, but for years they let you think you know everything, up until the point you know you know nothing, and that your Mom knew everything along. See -- moms even understood that last sentence.

I realize how important mothers are, but a conversation with my 3 1/2-year-old daughter, Madison, really put it in perspective.

"Dad, Mom babysits you, doesn't she?" Madison asked me out of the blue the other day.

"No, Maddie, your mom and dad don't babysit each other. And we don't really babysit you, either. We're your parents. We share in the responsibility of raising you into a fine young girl. We take great pride in your accomplishments. We don't 'babysit' as much as we try to encourage your growth and educate you about what life has to offer, and what is out there in this big world we live in," I said.

"Dad, if Mom doesn't babysit you, then why do you have two different colored socks on?" she replied.

Score another one for Mom. In the game of life, they'll always be the winners.

Happy Mother's Day.

Casey Ressler (valleylife@frontiersman.com) is the Valley Life editor. He likes to think he never cried over a baseball loss.