Living in the Moment

When I was a kid, I loved baseball, in fact, I still do. Anything everything that involved the sport of baseball, I was all ears. When I brought home the sign-up sheet to play T-Ball after school one day, I didn’t leave my mom alone until she finally, filled it out. As I watched her sign the line to allow me to play baseball, I shouted in excitement and got all sorts of obnoxious. I finally got to play baseball.

Fast forward to the night of the first practice, I was more than eager to start. I hopped out of the car and took off running to meet my friends on the ball diamond for some fun. We practiced the basics, fielding a ground ball, hitting off the tee, and actually running the bases correctly. Now if you haven’t ever seen a T-Ball practice, it’s the farthest thing from exciting and is one of the most brain-melting experiences. Every once in a while one of the kids actually did what they were supposed to do, and it was the most exciting thing all night. Those of you who have attended a T-Ball practice, know the pain. Now everything I just said, I realized when I was five years old. I thought T-Ball practice was THE MOST BORING thing in the world. I often found myself kicking and playing in the dirt, chasing butterflies, or picking a dandelion or two. I also spent a lot of time being a space cadet and paying attention to everything BUT practice.

There was one occasion at practice, where I was off in my own little world doing my own thing. It was my turn for one of the drills and I wasn’t paying attention. My couch shouted “Nole! Your turn!” and hit the ball in my direction. Don’t worry, it didn’t hit me, but it did fly right over my head. After finally realizing the ball was behind me, I took off and fielded the ball to throw it back. Of course, the throw was right on the right on the money, I mean come on, I’ve always had a cannon of an arm.

In that moment, I didn’t realize the magnitude of what that experience meant. You see, we get so caught up with whatever is going on in our lives and miss some of the biggest things that are right in front of us. I’m at a point in my life where I just finished my first semester of college, I’m in the thick of state office, and I’m 2 hours and 45 minutes from home. I’ve been so caught up in what I have going on, I fail to take time for the little things that I have the blessing to be able to do. Going home now means a little bit more than it had before. Spending time with friends and family are opportunities that come few and far in between. I will be the first to admit, that I don’t make the most of the time I spend with the ones close to me because, but I now realize that those chances won’t come as easily as they do now in the future.

Life doesn’t last forever. As dark as that sounds, it’s the truth. If we live blinded by worrying about what we’re going to do tomorrow or focusing our time on affecting the future, you’ll miss out on the biggest moments of your life. Live life in the present, the future isn’t going anywhere. There are so many important things that are going on in our lives that we just let go right over our heads, just like that fly ball. If we don’t take time to cherish the moments we have now, life is going to pass us right by. So sit and take time to remember the little things that happen and stop letting them continually be overshadowed by the big picture.

Those of you that are reading this, take time to cherish the moment, quit letting those little things pass you by, and start living in the moment.

Keep Your Stick on the Ice,

Nole Bochmann

2019-2020 Northwest State Vice President