Catch

Mom had been home from colon surgery a little over a week when her physical rehab nurse stopped by the house. She did an assessment on her condition, and created exercises to improve her balance and mobility.

One of these exercises involved throwing and catching a child’s inflatable plastic ball. The nurse instructed us, “Toss the ball underhanded back and forth to each other from a short distance. Then increase your length apart.”

Mom sat on the edge of the sofa and lofted the ball to me. I returned it. We repeated the sequence several times as I continued to move further away from her. We laughed every time the ball was thrown too high, too wide, or too short.

As we played ball, my mind drifted back to times when she helped me learn to catch as a child. I could still hear
her encouraging words: “Keep your eye on the ball, Lori. Concentrate!”

And here we were, 50 years later, still tossing a ball to each other, but I was the one encouraging her: “Keep your eye on the ball, Mom. Concentrate!”