Diving Catch

On Saturday evening, our whole family went to have dinner at a friend's house in Spring Hill Tennessee. Their house has a huge yard and we got all the kids playing a little baseball (really wiffle ball). Bryce was in the outfield and i was pitching. My friend was batting. He hit a fly ball well over Bryce's head and Bryce was digging hard for it. at the last moment, I yelled out "dive for it!" When I was a kid that's what we always yelled to each other to at least make a good effort and have a little fun, knowing if we ever made the catch it would go down as legend. Bryce however, did not make the catch. But what an effort. He did stay on the ground for a little longer and I knew he had hurt himself in the process. As I walked over to check on him, he had some tears in his eyes. I felt sad and guilty. Had I caused his pain? He had hurt his hip landing on the ground awkwardly. I first made sure that he was physically OK, but the tears really weren't about the hip pain. He was angry and ashamed about not making the catch and that I told him to dive for it. Wow. I am so glad he could be honest with me about that. He is so much braver for telling me that then even for diving for a ball that he couldn't reach. What a great moment , I am so proud of my boy. He may not have physically caught the ball, but he still made a diving catch in my heart.