National Guard to border

Oh, please!!!!! Next thing he's going to ask our troops to do is guard the shores of the gulf coast to ward off oncoming hurricanes!!!!

 Talk about futile….out

The perfect beauty of softball

Before I met my current hubby, I was probably one of the most unathletic souls that walked the face of this earth. Of course, after being married to Larry for almost 12 years…well…I probably still am pretty untalented in the sports arena. But Larry's passion is sports…anything sports….and I gamely try to tag along with him.

We courted when we both played on the company's bowling league (yeah, nothing smacks more of romance than the smell of rented bowling shoes and stale beer…).

Larry loves to golf – and, Lord knows, I've tried (and tried….and tried….) but golf just isn't meant for me. I've taken tons of lessons, but for the life of me, I cannot get that stupid little white ball in the air. Thank goodness golf balls are round, as that's the only way I can scoot the stupid thing from the tee to the hole…sigh…I enjoy the scenery of golf, but hate the frustration.

When Larry (finally) proposed to me, we were still in our softball uniforms – dusty, dirty, tired – we are sitting on our sofa and he takes off his baseball cap long enough to get down on one knee (avoiding scraping the carpet with his cleats) and asks me to marry him. Tears were running down both of our dusty faces…sigh…

So now Larry is coach of our church softball team. We are in a leauge of about 8 other churches and we have tons of fun. We've been playing together for over a year now and it's been a blast getting to know these people in this fun environment. And everybody has been very patient with me…yes…I'm the worst player on the team…I think it helps that (1) I'm the coaches wife and (2) it's a church team (so we have to all try to keep our competitive streak in check – and stay humble).

Staying humble has been my mainstay during our time playing softball. Actually, my strength is being able to gauge if a pitch is going to be a ball or strike. A walk has been my usual way to get on base.

Well, a week ago Sunday, we played a team that's pretty good in the leauge. And we were keeping pace with them pretty well. I managed to strike out twice (with players in scoring position, I might add). Bottom of the last inning comes up…we are down by 2…runners on 2nd and 3rd…2 out….and I take strike 3 not swinging….game over, thank you very much for playing. Sigh….

The next day, I go to our local sporting good store, buy me a decent bat – and hit the batting cages until there were blisters of my fingers. I'm determined….really determined…

Well, we had a game last night and I'm ready. I've got my shiny new bat…a little more confident…life is good…one of our youth players put together some music to play while the batters walking up to the plate…you can just feel it….first time up at bat – I walk. Second time up at bat – ground out (but I advanced the runner!). Third time up at bat – I walk again.  Ok, so I didn't hit the dream home run – but I scored two runs and we beat this team 9-7. (And the new bat was used by a few players who hit in the park home runs with it…they like the new bat…)

I really have come to love softball. I still stink at it, but there are just moments that make you think…"did I just do that? Where did that come from?" It really is amazing what a game like softball can do for the human soul – it can make you feel really angry at yourself, but then you pull yourself up by the bootstraps (er..I mean cleats), practice and get better, and then you start to play decently and you get to feel just a tad more confident about yourself. It's a beautiful thing…

…Now, if only I could figure out my golf game….

…oh well…gotta go hit the batting cages….out.