Who is already here?
I was updating my calendar this week and realized someone under my roof will be playing baseball every weekend until the 4th of July. And the next 7 Mondays. And a full smattering of weekdays every week.
That means missing a lot of book clubs. And a few church services. And the taco tournament will need to be put on hold.
I’ll miss my people. But I won’t be lonely; I’ll just have to lean into my baseball people.
When looking for your people, it might be helpful to look around and ask yourself, “Who is already here?”
Who sits in your row at church each week? Uses the treadmill next to yours? Lives next door to you, waits at the playground at pickup near you, sticks around at soccer same as you, holds the same laundromat hours as you? They might be your people.
Why not go first, introduce yourself, and find out?
If we’re insta-friends or Facebook friends (if we’re not, why not?), you already know that I love to use a gift to break the ice, whether that’s brand-new team ice or brand-new season ice.
I brought my oldest kid’s established team a loaf of “Lucky” Banana Bread for opening day.
I love the song with this reel!
My younger son’s team is pretty new, so I leaned into silly for them and wrapped up a bar of Fels Naptha soap, the baseball pant stain remover that I swear by. (I’m putting my method below if you need it!)
It’s slow work, relationship building. Remember that study I told you about from that professor at the University of Kansas? It takes somewhere around 50 hours to move from acquaintance to casual friend, 90 hours to move from casual friend to someone solidly in your “friend” category. Or, in baseball lingo: 10 games and 3 tournaments to become casual friends, 15 games and 5 tournaments to feel like real friends. 😉
It'll take some time, so don’t give up too quickly. If you’re in a season of building new friendships, remember, call up an old friend every once in a while to give yourself that relational depth you crave. Allow yourself wade through the small talk, be the inviter again and again, to let yourself be known, and to be maybe surprised by who’s been here all along.
Amanda’s Baseball Pant Cleaning Method:
1. If possible, have your ball player shower with those dirty pants. Not wearing them, but multi-task and let a hot* shower give the pants and player a good rinse. Fill that tub with warm water and soak those suckers overnight.
2. Bust out the Fels Naptha! Drain the tub and rub the bar right over the stains, making them nice and slimy.
3. Next, give the whole pant a good spritz of stain remover (I’m using OxyClean these days) and toss ‘em into a cold** load, laundering as normal.
If your stain is from turf, first of all, go with God, that may never fully come out. Consider designating this pair as turf pants. HOWEVER, I am finding spraying hydrogen peroxide on those stains has been helpful. Just be careful with this because hydrogen peroxide is a bleaching agent, so make sure you know its a potential risk before spraying away.
4. Once your load is complete, double check those babies, knowing you’ll most likely be repeating step 2. Once everything has been ‘Naptha-ed, wash again.
5. Lastly, hang it up. If you have time to hang dry, do, if you need to be at the diamond in 2 hours, first-pitch ‘em (😉 😉) in the dryer.
What if they’re not stain-free? You do what works for you, but I’ve chosen to let it go. Our worth is found in far-more than pristine baseball pants, Friend. We’ve got a life to live and it, and consequentially those baseball pants, should probably be a little messy.
*double check your label to make sure your fabric likes hot or warm water 😊
** the experts would probably tell you to wash these on hot, but I wash everything on cold cuz this mama don’t have time for that. Do what works best for you, your heart, and your pants. 😉
