5 Friday Favorites: April 18, 2025

   

It's time for my Friday link up with  A Little Bit of Everything and Momfessionals. 

On Fridays I share things that made me happy from the week - a photo, a song, a quote, a beauty product, a recipe, a pair of cute shoes, etc. If it's a product, sometimes it's something I actually own and sometimes something I just saw online that gave me a smile. Sometimes it's serious and sometimes it's silly. I suppose I believe that God is in the simple details of life and yes, I can even find Him in a tube of lipstick.

Hello. I'm writing from Lake Anna where we are spending the week with my dad who flew in to visit this week to celebrate his 85th birthday and Easter with us. Spring has shown up just in time for his visit so we'll be watching some baseball this weekend and doing a lot of this:

Here are some favorite things from the week.

1. Sol De Janeiro 62

I am told these Sol de Janeiro fragrances are the faves of the young 'uns. Count me in. I got the #68 last summer and this summer it's going to be this one. It's got a really great beachy vibe. What does that mean exactly? I have no idea, but I like it. 

2. The Tell by Amy Griffin

I listened to this book on Audible last week. It's a very, very difficult subject matter so be aware. Saying that I enjoyed it seems like the wrong thing to say, but it was a really compelling story.

3. Rich Girls & Po-Boys Nail Color by OPI

This Friday Favorite comes to you from my friend, Becki, who texted me last night about spring nail polish colors. She chose this OPI blue color for her toes and it's PERFECTION for the spring! Love it.

4. Thief by Third Day

If you've been around awhile, you know that I post this song from Third Day on Good Friday every single year. It's one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard based on the Scripture from Luke 23:32-43.

5. When the Dream Comes True

Let me tell you a little story about this week, friends. It's a story that starts about 16 years ago. 

My son, Kyle, had a group of about six best friends who met in elementary school. These boys played baseball as well as a bunch of other sports, had more sleepovers and birthday parties than you could count, attended middle school and high school, and went to sleep-away camp - together. They were always - the mess of them - together. Your typical group of maniacs. Their moms and I piled that group of buddies into our SUVs on the way to . . . well, everywhere. We would listen to them talk about their big, crazy dreams. I knew how their little minds raced with visions of the day they would be in the big leagues. They imagined seeing their names and faces on the jumbotron. They believed these dreams would come true with all of their little hearts.

Listen. I could have stopped them.  I read an article years ago titled "Your Kid Is Not Going Pro". I knew the statistics didn't bear out. I never once thought that any of my own flesh and blood children would become professional athletes. (So sorry to break it to you, Skinner boys.) I suppose it's not even necessarily cynical. It's just reality . . .except when it's not.

Because this week I watched as one of those little boys strode up to the plate for the Seattle Mariners. We know him as BDub. Major League baseball knows him as Ben Williamson.

As soon as we found out on Sunday morning that our guy was going to the Show, Kyle and my husband, Steve, along with some other friends, made quick plans to meet up with our friends, Andy and Regena - Ben's parents - to watch him make his Major League debut in Cincinnati on Tuesday night. 

A side note: Steve and I have been friends with Andy and Regena since the boys met and I never once heard either one of them make any assumption - even in a whisper - that they expected their child to become a professional baseball player. Throughout his very successful journey, there has never been one boastful comment. They are as good a people you could ever find and so are both of their children, Ben and his sister, Emily. To this day, Andy and Regena will ask as much about our kids as we do about theirs. And they have cheered for all of Ben's friends' successes as much as we have cheered for their boy.

On Tuesday night, a couple of the other moms and I who were having serious FOMO got together at my house to watch the game. In between bites of pizza and reminiscing about Little League days, we tried to hold back our tears (unsuccessful, by the way). We watched in wonder as "little" BDub's face showed up on the big screen. And when he smacked a single to left field in his first Major League at-bat we screamed our fool heads off and lost our ever-lovin' minds as we saw our people doing the same right there in front of the whole wide world on the MLB network.

I thought about every single player out on that field that night. All of those boys. Or men, I suppose, but boys in the eyes of all of the people who knew them way back when. I knew that all of them had friends and family who had watched them grow up. They all had moms. Moms who had shared carpool duties with other moms. Who had made pancakes for a mess of little rugrats after sleepovers where they had put holes in the basement walls playing whatever destructive game they had come up with at 2 AM. Moms who had shuttled them to the pool each summer making sure to keep a headcount every once in awhile while screaming at them to reapply their sunscreen. Moms who had huddled in packs next to each other in the bleachers cheering for each one's kid as if he was her very own. And dads, too, by the way, who had done the same. And every single one of those players had heard the cynics and the skeptics.

So here's the thing: if you are one of those moms or dads out there in the world with a group of Little Leaguers who are dreaming crazy, statistically-unlikely dreams, just keep that reality check to yourself. In my experience, the kids figure these things out on their own. They seem to adjust their dreams accordingly all by themselves.

Yes, it's true. Most kids don't make it to the Show. But some kids? Some kids do. They sure as heck do.

Congratulations, Ben. We are so proud of you - of your hard work, of your perseverance and more than anything else of the man you have become. Thanks for letting us share the ride. GO MARINERS!

PS You can read about our boy's debut here. You know you want to.

Have a great weekend and a blessed Easter Sunday, friends.

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