One thing that continually amazes me about [Kathy->] is the amount of energy and enthusiasm she’ll put into something once she decides she wants to do it. Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting in the backyard reading a book when she plunked down nearby. “I’m restless. I want to do something. Do you want to play a game?”

“Ehhh…what game?” I responded, still engrossed in my book.

“Maybe Carcassonne?” she said. Normally I love Carcassonne, but we had just played on Thursday (when she had trounced me soundly), so my level of enthusiasm was low. And besides, I was still trying to read.

“I know,” she went on, “Kickball! Would you play kickball?”

“Ummm…ok,” I said, fully expecting that her abrupt enthusiasm would be thwarted by unavailability of willing participants. I was therefore a bit surprised to find that before I knew what was happening, she had pulled a phone from thin air, and in a flurry of dialing rounded up 12 kids in just a few minutes.

My enthusiasm level still low, we marched on down to nearby Crockett Elementary, where we split up into two teams, with Kathy and I acting as player-coaches for our respective sides. We started the game, and somewhat to my surprise, I found myself actually enjoying myself quite a lot as I cavorted around, shouting instructions to the team, running after fly balls, and trying to get the field chatter going. The game was error riddled, and my base coaching was largely ignored (except in the one case where it did more harm than good — sorry about that, Liam!) but everybody seemed to have a good time.

I’m sore today, but again grateful for the enthusiasm Kathy injects into our family and my life. Oh yeah: Kathy’s team walloped ours.