chronicles of a baseball widow

I should be used to this by now.  Every spring, my life turns from a normal working mom with a flexible social calendar into 6 months of being in “lockdown” and doing the lions share of parenting duties.  But here we are again, on the eve of the switch being flipped, and I am already starting to feel shackled by my impending restrictions.

My husband works for our baseball team – which means he works EVERY home game – nights, weekends, you name it.  This was not a big deal before we had a kid, but once we did, it changed everything.   Anytime anyone asks me to do anything in the spring/summer/early fall I have to consult the schedule – or bring my son with, or find a sitter.

Opposite schedules

I’m a natural early riser – I like to get up early, especially in the summer when the sun is up early and I need to get out and run. Conversely, he will sleep until 9 and leave the house at 9:30am.  I go to bed around 9:30 pm and typically he won’t get home from a game until later than that, so we could literally go days and days living in the same house but not seeing each other.

Work conflicts

Occasionally, I have conferences or events that I need to travel to that happen to fall over a game day(s).  This  does not go over with with the hubs.  On those days, he has to leave work downtown, drive 20-30 min, pick him up, take him to the sitter, drive back downtown, work the game and drive back home.  But we have an excellent sitter and it is what it is.

Homework and appointments

Now that my son has legit homework, that time period between him getting home from school and getting dinner on the table is downright hectic. Right now, my husband and I divide and conquer, but as soon as the season opens, it will all fall on me. He also has weekly occupational therapy sessions which we take turns going to, and now it will all be me.

Travel restrictions

I am all about travelling. I love to visit my friends & family or take trips to places I’ve never been. Oh, and I’m always up for a racecation!  So again, when making plans of any kind or checking out possible races to run, I have to check the baseball schedule.   This year, I am missing out on the Fred 200 Relay in Michigan and the Mountains to Beach Marathon in California.   But this year the schedule is allowing me to go to run the Crim in my hometown of Flint, MI, and for that I am happy!

Last year, I was training for a marathon from  July – October.  I like to do my long runs on Sunday mornings.  Unfortunately, on game days, hubby has to leave for work at 8am.  That means I need to be done with all of that by then so I can stay home with our son. Once I was in that heavy mileage area – 15, 16, 18 and 20 milers – I had to really be strategic. I was getting up at 4am (partially to beat the heat too) to try to get ALL my miles in before he had to leave.  A few times we even needed a sitter to cover the overlap. We don’t have any family in the area to help us.

Is there an upside?

Well, there are a slight few.  Everyone’s first reaction when they hear who he works for is “wow, you must get to go to a lot of games”.  Sure, I could – if I had any interest in baseball.  I take him once a year to let his co-workers see our son, and one other time usually with my team from work (but I have to pay for a sitter).  My son isn’t very interested in the game at this point in time, either.

The only true upside for me is lots of quality time one on one with my son.   That makes up for a lot of the sacrifice.  Weekends include us going out to lunch together, hitting the library together, and Saturday night movies.

So the countdown begins tomorrow - 6 months of big time bonding and bye bye social life!  I know it's not forever, and in a few years (sniff, sniff) he'll be old enough to hang out by himself and as a cranky teenager probably won't even want to hang out with me.  Or maybe he'll be a momma's boy forever :)