Just seeing this tonight, FP26 worded this for me perfectly, I couldn’t have said it any better!I always looked at the time/money spent on softball activities through the lens of replacement value. As a family, if we were not involved in softball, what would we have done? I suppose we would have traveled more (or at least to different places). I'm sure DD would have found other activities to be involved in (most of which would cost $ anyway). Personally, I probably would have spent much more time on the golf course (again, $$$). I'm sure the three of us would have managed just fine without softball, but I doubt we would be any better off financially. I'm sure that money would have been spent in other ways.
Honestly, my fondest memories of the sport are the time I was able to spend with DD and her teammates. Second are the times on the road with other families. Dinners, nights out, lawn chairs and a grill outside a hotel room, etc. Yes, as a coach, I still remember a lot of the game play. But what I truly miss was all that other stuff. Now that DD is in college, I miss it. I miss it a lot. It was great having her home for the summer. Just something as simple as playing catch in the front yard was a great joy to me.
My parents were right. Time goes by way too fast...