I will sustain the part

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,

And here on earth come emulating flies

That, though they never equal stars in size

(And that were never really stars at heart),

Achieve at times a very starlike start.

Only, of course, they can't sustain the part.

~Fireflies In The Garden, Robert Frost

I attended a baseball playoff tournament today. It seemed to me to be full of life and energy. I watched the shiny innocent faces of all the boys as runner after runner sailed passed home plate, feet dragging to ensure the runs counted. Boys gathered at the plate to welcome their teammates, knowing that the game was already theirs, they would be advancing. The joy was tangible in the thick humid Texas summer day. Honeysuckle assailed my senses from somewhere far away and red, dry, clay blew in tiny tornadoes, encircling me. In a moment, time slowed.

Zach is at the plate. The pitch. Swing! and miss. He turns and looks at me. I nod. Wait for your pitch, I say. You can hit this pitcher. He's nothing. The pitch. Zach let's it go. STRIKE! yells the ump. Zach looks at me again. It's okay, I say,  that wasn't your pitch. The next one is yours. He turns around slowly, his stance is confident, his bat slightly above his head, in motion. The pitch. SWACK! The ball goes over the second baseman's head. Zach rounds first, heads to second and stays. He looks at me. Gives me the two thumbs up.

I do not realize until that moment that I am on my feet, breath held, watching my child live his dream. In that moment, I know that I am doing something right, and I want to continue doing it - whatever it is.

I may not be a star at heart, but I am starlike, and I will sustain the part.