A Most Delightful Sound

It was such a nice day today, that Tony and I spent a lot of time outside, including this evening after supper. Angelo went to an evening meeting, and Tony and I played basketball outside.

Well, kind of basketball. We had a child sized b-ball and a small collapsible lawn container for a basket. I propped that up on an elevated flowerbed next to our garage, we began to play. Tony’s delightful squeals as he ran, ball securely in his hands, past me toward the “basket” was one of the best sounds I’ve heard all day. The twinkle in his eye, the smile on his face, and the dance in his step all told me he was lovin’ this.

I took a few minutes to show him how to dribble the ball, helping him get just the right amount of rebound in his hands to get the ball to obey. When he tried it on his own, he had a bounce or two, and then that ball would fly off a shoe, or a loose pebble, or an angled hand, and land in the lawn or roll toward the road. A delightful squeal as Tony chased after it and we were back at our game.

Later, after he was tucked into bed, Tony told me he wanted to “write” in his journal. That consists of him telling me what to write. I often ask leading questions to get the information from him. When I asked him what his favorite part of the game was, he told me it was when I helped him learn to dribble. That one-on-one time with no phones, computers, TV’s or other modern devices to interrupt us is what he will treasure the most.