The grandfather who left a touching note on a bucket of baseballs about savoring time with family has gotten back in the batting cage with his adult grandson one more time.
Randy Long reminisced in his note about pitching to his son and grandson, writing, "I am 72 and what I won't give to pitch a couple of buckets to them" now that they have both moved away.
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It was just like old times on Sunday when Long's grandson, Ethan, 23, drove two hours from Birmingham, Alabama, to Montgomery to hit the batting cages with his grandfather.
"It's something that I don't think you really think about until something like this happens where he picks up the bucket of balls cleaning out the garage and ... you realize how much you miss it," Ethan said on TODAY Monday. "I didn't realize how much it meant to him until I saw the note and all that came about."
Randy Long's wife took a picture of the note after Long left it on a bucket of baseballs at the local batting cage. He urged any father who might see it to "cherish these times" because "you won't believe how quickly they will be gone."
After Ethan's grandmother sent him the photo of the note, he posted it on Twitter, where it went viral as fathers and sons thought back to their times together on a baseball field or in the backyard.
"It's been reminding people of the times they had with their dads and granddads back in the day in the baseball cages," Ethan said. "A lot of people (were) just thanking me and saying they're going to go do those things with their son or grandchildren, whatever it is now, just because they don't want to miss out on those memories that they could be making."
A young boy from the local community ended up taking home the bucket Long left behind. Lon said he plans to follow the boy's season on his travel baseball team.
As for the grandfather and grandson, they enjoyed their time together again in the batting cages on Sunday.
"It went well," Randy said on TODAY. "We both still got the swing in. I was able to throw a few of them for strikes out there, too."