My husband, Tim, celebrated his first Father’s Day. It was a low key celebration. I had a special outfit for our son to wear that read “I have the best dad ever.” Lincoln looked cute in it, and Tim liked it. He requested enchiladas for supper, and we went for ice cream at Dairy Queen. It was a nice Sunday.
The weekend wasn’t anything like we had originally planned. Like many things this year, we had to adjust. We had tickets to watch the Yankees play the Twins on June 20. Obviously those plans were impossible to keep.
It would have been Lincoln’s first baseball game and his biggest road trip. It’s a Rodgers’ family tradition to attend a baseball game every year. My parents, my brother and sister, and I have fulfilled that tradition with the exception of 1994 when the strike prevented us from seeing a game. It now includes spouses of the children as well, and it has been wonderful to include my husband in the tradition the past four years. We were looking forward to bringing our son this year. It looks like 2020 will be another one of those exceptions.
It has been amazing how the Major League Baseball schedule has fallen so many times on Father’s Day. Last year, we were all together in Colorado, and we attended a Colorado Rockies game on Father’s Day. Another year, we happened to be vacationing in Washington, D.C. You could guess we went to see the Washington Nationals play the Pirates on Father’s Day. Several years, it has worked out that we were in Minnesota or Kansas City on Father’s Day to see our New York Yankees. My dad does say, “it makes the best Father’s Day gift ever.”
I am happy to read the reports the MLB owners and players have reached an agreement to bring baseball back in July. It will be nice to be able to watch a few games on television, even if it’s not the same as being at the ballpark. They haven’t officially announced if fans will be allowed at the games, but it is not something we will risk with our son this year. I hope by next summer we can take Lincoln to a game and pick up our tradition again.
In place of the Minnesota trip, we gathered at my parents’ house. All of my siblings and their spouses were there. With the rainy, humid weather, we brought the gathering in the house instead of the garage. I think we are all getting a little less worried about the virus within the family, but we still are remaining cautious outside of family gatherings. The virus is still out there but we are keeping up on our hand washing and all necessary sanitary procedures.
It was fun to watch Lincoln play with his cousin Mackenzie. She is five weeks older than he is, and it has been great to watch them both learn and grow so close together. Mackenzie is better at rolling than Lincoln. She rolls around easily to get to the place she wants to go. Lincoln is an army crawler. He rolls onto his tummy and stays there. When he wants to go somewhere, he pulls himself with his arms (as I mentioned in my column last week).
I was hoping the cousins could spend more time together, but the pandemic put a damper on that. I’m glad they have started to play together more. I can’t wait to watch them both grow up together like I did with my cousins. My dad already talks about getting them both in the backyard to play wiffle ball together. We are definitely a baseball family.
Contact Pam Pratt at pampratt@newtondailynews.com
