How to Create Moments Your Kids Will Never Forget

The passing of legendary New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra this week brought back memories of the day I met him, 35 years ago.

I was sitting in my 7th grade English class when my teacher called me over to her desk to tell me my father was waiting outside to pick me up. 

My father had received a call from a friend whose son was the batboy for the Yankees during their annual spring training retreat in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His son was sick, so he asked my father whether I could take his son's place for a day. Sensing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, he drove down to school and plucked me out of class.

I had no idea what was in store for me that day until I arrived at the stadium where the Yankees were practicing. I was assigned to help pick up bats and balls for the players who were warming up for yet another season of baseball.

Reflecting on the experience 35 years later, it still feels as surreal now as it did back then. I had free rein to roam in the dugout, on the field near home plate, and in the locker room.

I was surrounded by players I had seen only on TV, or whose photos and game stats I had studied on the playing cards that came packaged with flat sticks of bubble gum. 

Like Reggie Jackson, the right fielder who hit 563 career home runs.

Or Goose Gossage, the relief pitcher with 1,502 strike-outs to his name.

And Yogi Berra, who had long since hung up his catcher’s mitt to join the ranks of Yankee coaches.

I’ll never forget the boxes of Bazooka bubble gum and chewing tobacco stacked waist high in the locker room, as if that was their primary source of nourishment.

And I’ll never forget handing those enormously heavy (to my 12-year-old hands) wooden bats to the players, and to Yogi Berra himself.

As a souvenir of my experience, I collected signatures of the players on a baseball that I’ve long since lost. 

It was a heady experience and one I’ve obviously never forgotten, even after so many years. I have no recollection of what I was learning at the time in school, or what I missed from the classes I didn’t attend that day. But I do remember the experience of being the batboy for the New York Yankees for a day.

We spend so much of our lives at school. I started at age 3, didn’t stop until I was 23, and then went back again at 27 for another two years to pick up my MBA. That’s a solid 22 years with my butt in a chair listening to teachers telling me what I should know and assigning me work I should do. 

Once I finally left school, I jumped onto another non-stop treadmill at work, where I spend most of the day away from my family.

I know, most of us have the weekends for family time. But is that really enough?

How about carving a day out of your busy work schedule to do something fun and spontaneous with your kids? That’s right: take the day off and pull your children out of school if you have to. Like my dad did with me, 35 years ago. 

Kids grow up way too fast and are out the door and off to exotic lands hundreds or thousands of miles away to live their own lives before you know it.

Before they move on, think of ways to create moments they’ll never forget.

Thanks for reading. Connect with me here on LinkedIn, or on Twitter @glennleibowitz. Listen to conversations about the craft of writing on my podcast, Write With Impact. 

Image credit: Yogi Berra