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SALT LAKE CITY — “Take me out to the ballgame, take me out with the crowd!” At this time of the year these well-known and beloved lyrics can be heard sung at baseball games across the country. Whether attending a Major League game or going to watch your own VIP play American’s favorite pastime, baseball seems to be a sort of kickoff to the summer.
I love the fun, laid-back feeling that comes along with attending a baseball game, but have you ever had this type of enjoyable and relaxing event unexpectedly turn into a discomforting situation?
"Yes, he was giving full, lip-on drinks to my daughter out of the water jug that I had just seen him slurping out of mouth fully covering about two seconds before!"
At my husband's softball game last summer, my kids and I had a prime spot in the bleachers right behind home plate, and my 1-year-old daughter was having a fabulous time walking up to the fence and charming the umpire and players with smiles and laughs.
The nice, older umpire was especially taken with my daughter. He spoke to her at any chance he got and would laugh at whatever she was doing. He had a giant water bottle on the small cement ledge on his side of the chain-link fence separating the spectators from the dugout and was taking big slurps from it throughout the game.
Of course, his water bottle became the point of interest for my daughter and she kept pointing at it and saying “Oooo!”
At one point I was distracted talking to my son and could see my daughter standing up to the fence out of the corner of my eye, but wasn’t paying much attention to what she was doing. The next thing I knew, I saw her leaning against the fence with mouth opened wide, and the umpire standing on the other side holding his water bottle directly into her mouth.
Yes, he was giving full, lip-on drinks to my daughter out of the water jug that I had just seen him slurping out of mouth fully covering about two seconds before!
I had a moment where my whole body tensed up and I froze. I wasn't sure what to do. I mean, I share drinks with my kids and don't mind if family does as long as they aren't sick, but a random stranger giving my daughter drinks through the fence like she was a gerbil or something? It was a little much!
"Once I relaxed a little I noticed that many of the spectators were getting a kick out of it ... It really was funny looking, a little toddler being fed water through a chain-link fence like a little hamster."
But he was such a nice man and he was enjoying every bit of it. I didn't want to make him feel stupid with some paranoid mom comment so I just let him finish giving her the drink. Soon she toddled back to where I was sitting and I was relieved that awkward moment was over.
A couple minutes passed and just when I thought she had forgotten about the water bottle, she walked back up to the fence and, to my horror, pointed to his water jug saying, "Oooo, Oooo!"
From the field the ump said, "Just a minute, cutie!"
Ahhhh! My mind was racing. What do I do? Do I say something?
I wasn't alone. A girl sitting behind me obviously sympathetic with my dilemma whispered over my shoulder, "Oh no, not again!"
As soon as the batter was finished, the ump rushed back to the fence and lifted his water jug up to give my daughter another drink. There she stood, perched with her mouth widely open, ready for another guzzle. This was the moment of truth. Do I tell him to stop?
But at that moment I came to a realization and thought: What the heck. She's already had one slurp, what's another going to do?
Once I relaxed a little I noticed that many of the spectators were getting a kick out of it along with the nearby players.
Then, I joined in with the laughter. It really was funny looking, a little toddler being fed water through a chain-link fence like a little hamster.
So I did what I often do in moments I find funny and memorable: grabbed my camera and took a picture.
The ump was a really sweet guy. After the game he gave my daughter a softball. He seemed so pleased that he had made a new little friend. As I thought about how making a big deal of the situation would have probably made him feel bad and embarrassed, I was really glad I hadn't made a big stink about him giving her harmless drinks of water.
I learned something from that little experience: just relax. Admittedly, it probably wasn't ideal for my 1-year-old to be drinking out of a stranger's water bottle, but was it going to kill her? No. And what are the chances he had some weird disease that could be spread through sharing drinks? Probably next to none, I hope.
More importantly, I learned that I enjoy myself so much more when I stop worrying and start enjoying the moment.
Lindsay Ferguson is a wife and a mother of two young children. She writes from home and keeps up a blog at www.lifeasamomuncut.blogspot.com.
