On leave, dad sees son's first ball game

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

Parents are always excited on the first day of T-ball season. They hope their child will have fun playing a game they love. And they hope their child won’t be the one sitting down on the pitcher’s mound and playing with dirt while other parents from both teams point and giggle.

The cheering is inevitably louder than normal on the first day.

But one T-ball parent, a dad, was extra exuberant the morning of March 3, at Indian Trails Sports Complex.

“Go Clay-man!” the man shouted. He was grinning from ear to ear, bouncing on his toes at the backstop fence.

The child was Clay Higginbotham, and it was his first game on the diamond. He strode to the plate, wearing his team’s powder blue uniform. He is joined on the team by his brother, Landon, who is one year older than Clay. That makes him a veteran ball player, by T-ball standards.

The dad was Curtis Higginbotham, a boatswain’s mate second class in the U.S. Coast Guard, stationed in Lake Charles, La. Fortunately for him and his family, he was on leave for 13 days, and it worked out just right so that he could be there for his sons’ first game of the season.

“All right, Clay-man!” Curtis Higginbotham shouted, gripping the fence.

Curtis’ wife, Dana, is living with her mother, Sherry Morgan, in Palm Coast while he is away. It’s an 11-hour drive back and forth, he said.

“It’s always nice to come home to Florida and visit the kids — and get away from the swamp people for a little while,” he joked after the game.

Thanks for serving our country, Curtis. Glad to have you home for a while, especially out on the ball fields.