Reflection on the first game…

Well, I'm not going to lie, it could have been better. But, it also could have been worse. Unfortunately, the team we played had something we don't have, a pitcher. I adore my little girls and bless their hearts they tried, however, we just haven't found our pitcher yet.

There's a six run rule which means at the point a team scores six runs in an inning, that half of the inning is over and the other team gets a turn. There's also a rule that no game should exceed 90 minutes, but for some reason that rule wasn’t followed. Lovely.

Anywho, it took two hours to complete three innings (yes, that's as painful as it sounds) and all done in nearly 100 degree heat. I kid you not, it was a mostly unpleasant experience. And I have the sunburn to show for it. (Yes, I took sun block. No, I did not put it on. *sigh*) But once the parents saw there's was more than little old me could handle alone, they hopped off those bleachers and did a great job to help me out. I really appreciated that.

So the final score was 18 to 15. We came up three runs short due to a couple of girls I couldn’t convince to stop swinging at bad pitches. But I appreciate how much they wanted to hit the ball. And the ones who did hit the ball did a terrific job. It's nice to know that the majority of our runs came from hitting and not walks or beamed batters. The beamed batters thing is a whole other subject.

We have two practices before our next game and if I'm correct, the team we play Saturday is a group smaller and with less experience than us, so it's going to be another long (in time) short (in innings) game. It'll be pitching, pitching, pitching all week. Maybe my kiddo will have some luck. If nothing else I know she'll be able to get it across the plate. Now, getting it over without killing anyone is another question…

Anyone else spending time at the ball field these days? Anyone else have an extremely uneven and splotchy tan like I do? I suggest buying stock in anyone producing aloe as I'm pretty much keeping them in business.

Faith Renewed

I don’t always have a positive outlook on people in general. Let’s face it, this world can be a pretty messed up place. But thankfully, things happen often enough to renew my faith in human-kind. One of those things happened this weekend.

I live in a large military area and while living here, you get used to seeing soldiers everywhere. Men and women in uniform blanket this area, so to say patriotism is an everyday thing is an understatement.

This weekend I flew my daughter half way across the country, then turned around and flew home a little over 12 hours later. By the time I got on my last flight back to Norfolk, I had been traveling for about 28 hours and just wanted to get home. I flew Southwest and if you haven’t taken that airline lately, there are no assigned seats. You get a letter and number and that combination tells when you can get on the plane. Once on, you sit wherever you can find a seat. The early boarding combinations are highly desired if you don’t want to be in the last row…in a middle seat.

Saturday afternoon, in the Baltimore airport, before anyone else boarded, the Southwest rep came on the intercom and asked if there were any military personnel in uniform on this flight. He offered that they pre-board first. One soldier walked to the door, and the rest of us applauded. My faith was once again renewed. Maybe we human beings aren’t so messed up after all.

Here’s a video of a performance from the Academy of Country Music awards held recently in Las Vegas. It’s Trace Adkins performing with the West Point Glee Club on a song called ‘Til the Last Shot’s Fired. The video and song are available at CBS.com or iTunes and the proceeds benefit the Wounded Warriors organization. It’s less than $3 and it’ll make you feel better about human-kind.

Enjoy.