When Madison was four years old I signed her up to play Iddy Biddy Ragball at the YMCA. I couldn’t wait to get her started playing ball. When her first game rolled around, she cried. She was so scared and unsure of herself that she needed someone to hold her hand and lead her out to her spot on the field. It quickly became obvious how much she needed to learn during that first softball game, and it seemed like a million years until the last one.
Time marches on and somehow I find myself with fourteen years of softball memories with this kid. Driving her places until we started letting her drive herself. Team practices and tournaments and throwing a ball in the yard. Gloves, bags, helmets, face masks, weighted balls, bats (and bigger bats), blue shoes, softball parties, and one memorable injury that put me in a boot. She loves the game now. She is aggressive when running the bases and she knows where she belongs when it is time to run out onto the field.
You can see everything from the bleachers. I have seen Madison shed a few tears of disappointment. I have seen her make plays and crush softballs. I have seen high fives, jumps for joy, fist bumps, and hugs. I have seen her knock girls down and I have seen her help them back up. She sets goals and works really hard to achieve them. She encourages her teammates when they are frustrated. The scared little girl who started playing this game is a leader now with tremendous poise, and I am so proud of her that my heart can barely take it.
Madison, what I would like to say to you as your softball career comes to a close is that there are two things I know for sure:
1.) I have loved watching you play. I love everything you bring to the softball field. I love watching you crush the ball and throw girls out who think they can bunt down your baseline. I love how smart you are on the bases and how you lift up your teammates when they are down. I am so proud of your work ethic and perseverance. You are all in. It’s one of my favorite things.
2.) If you approach the rest of your life the way you have approached softball there is nothing you cannot do. Your determination and hard work will serve you well in everything that you try to do and I am excited to see where you will go from here. While your softball games are coming to an end, I will never stop cheering for you.
Parents, if you get the opportunity to take off from work half an hour early to get to the game on time, take it. And don't feel guilty as you carry your chair to your spot by the ball field fence. If you just made it home and you are debating whether to make that long drive to the away game on a weeknight because you know you could really use some extra sleep, just get in the car and go. One day, you will be standing in your bedroom putting on a shirt to match your daughter's jersey, and the game you will be getting ready for will be her last one. This time I am the one who needs someone to hold my hand.
1 comment:
Oh, my heart!
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