It gets better.
On the way to the tournament Saturday morning, my son says to me, "Do you think I need to wear the helmet with the protective mask?" .
My response was, "Yer Gawd damned right you need to wear it, at least until I'm comfortable.".
Well, in the second game, he hits a single, another kid moves him over, so he's on third and the other kid's on first.
The other kid is taking a pretty good lead, so the catcher tries to pick him off, and my boy breaks for home.
The first baseman catches it off the bag and fires it back home, but on the first base side of the plate.
The catcher snags it and wheels around just as my boy is sliding in and smacks him like a ton of bricks right in the friggin' face.
Knocks him flat, but he's safe.
My boy lays there for a good ten seconds thinking about it, but gets up unscathed.
Had he not been wearing the protective helmet, we would have undoubtedly been back in the ER.
After, the game I asked him if he thought he might keep wearing that helmet.
He said he thought it would be a good idea for a while.
Tough as nails.
He must get that from his mother.