So… On Tuesday I got a text from my son, Tyler. The first thing I saw was a photo of him. His mouth was swollen as though he’d been kissing a beehive. The text was: “My mouth after I got hit in face with baseball, square.” (I’m not posting the photo here. I go through phases where I just can’t look at it.)
My son plays college baseball for Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne. My immediate assumption is that he was pitching to live hitting in practice and got hit with a comebacker. I found out later that wasn’t exactly it. He’d just finished pitching a bullpen session and was sitting on the bullpen bench. He was looking away to watch someone else pitching. In the meantime, someone on the field had a throw get away from them and shoot into the ‘pen. Tyler turned just in time to get smacked in the mouth with the throw.
He went to the trainer, of course. He kept ice on it for 24 hours (his mom is a nurse, so he knows the importance of controlling swelling early). And we spent Thursday going up to Fort Wayne (about a 85 min. drive), bringing him back home to see his dentist, then taking him back.
The news is generally good. No broken teeth, no apparent root damage (though he does have a slightly loose tooth. He’ll have to keep an eye on it in case it starts to change color, indicating that it’s dying). He had just finished a two-year cycle of orthodonture which is now probably all busted up to hell. (“*$&!!”) But it certainly could’ve been much worse.
So I tell this story for two reasons:
1 – The strip scheduled for Friday will be late, possibly until Saturday. After spending all day on the road, I have neither the time or energy to finish the Friday strip. I’m sorry about that and I hope you understand.
2 – You never stop worrying about your kids. Even when they’re adults and out on their own (or at least away at school), you’re always concerned about their welfare. The movie Parenthood had a pretty good line about this: “You never get to do the touchdown dance…”
The main thing is, it looks like he’s gonna be okay. I just have to keep reminding myself that…