The Road Trip Memories That Last Longer Than the Games

I have been to more baseball tournaments than I can count. I have driven to fields in states I never expected to visit. I have eaten more concession stand hot dogs than any reasonable person should.

And when I think about what I will actually remember from all of those years of travel baseball, it is almost never the games.

It is the hotel pool at eleven o'clock at night, the whole team in the water, laughing so hard the other guests must have hated us.

It is the team dinner at a barbecue restaurant, twelve families around pushed-together tables, everyone talking at once.

It is the drive home after a tournament loss, my son asleep in the back seat, his uniform still dirty, a small smile on his face that I could not explain.

It is the friendships, mine with other baseball moms, my son's with his teammates, that have outlasted the teams and the seasons.

Baseball gave us all of this. The games were just the occasion. The memories are the gift.