It’s back, and with a vengeance.

Really, it started a few weeks ago, with practice twice a week, but since I could hang out in my truck and relax a bit on the days that I was responsible for taking Seamus, it didn’t hit me so hard. Don’t get me wrong; I love Little League and I go to every game, it’s just that this has been an incredibly busy year and I’m pretty damn tired when I get off work. But I’ll still go, and photograph every game that I can (it doesn’t come out very well on the late ones; the lights aren’t bright enough.)

 

The first game was a good one for him, even though they lost. He had no less than ten family members there rooting for him. After it, my side all went out for dinner, so my folks could get to know Junior and his little girls, and that was fun too. But nothing’s quite as fun as winning, and on Saturday evening, the third game of the season, they finally pulled that off.

 

Seamus got walked on base twice, but was batted-in both times, and that’s always good for his enthusiasm. Of course, he’s always pretty fired up about it, and happily stands out there in left field, heckling the other team.

At least this isn’t going to be a no-win season. He learned a lot of techniques last year, but not winning any games gets to a kid after a while. It’s more fun to photograph too; more excited faces, more action shots, and more good pictures to give to proud parents at the end of the season. I’m trying to explain to those parents that don’t know what I’m up to, what I do. I don’t want them to think I’m hogging the good spot on the fence just because I’m selfish or oblivious. They’ll get something out of it too. A couple of them already knew what I do, and I’ve seen parents I recognize on all of the other teams we’ve played so far, so it might not be too weird when I go over to the opposing team’s side for a few good shots now and then.

But it’s a busy time. It seems that we have way more Saturday games this year than last, so there go my free weekends. And we’re still playing twice a week during the week, and quite a few of those are late games. That gets us home quite a bit after bedtime, so it’s kind of hard on him too, but I think he’ll manage. He loves it, after all, even if he’s not the best kid on the team, and so do I.