....and So it Begins

I've raised five daughters and they've all played softball - from Little League through college. I'm currently on the last daughter. I can see the light at the end of a very long tunnel - but I CAN see the light. Now granted, she has been playing ball since the end of March - but high school ball consists of practice after school and maybe three games a week with occasional Saturday games. Last night, SUMMER BALL began - four nights a week and all of them DOUBLE HEADERS. I leave the house at 6:30 in the morning and I go straight to a ball park somewhere in South Bend, Mishawaka, Granger or Elkhart every day after work - and I get home around 9:30 at night - just in time to take a shower and climb into bed and do it all again the next day. Now I know you must be asking - what about dad? Well here's the thing. He plays ball - softball (3 different teams - three nights a week) and baseball (on the weekends). He usually stops by her game for an inning or two on the way to his game.

And THEN, there's the weekends. For example, this weekend we're in a High School tournament in Warsaw, Indiana, beginning on Friday. First game - 6:45 Friday night. Saturday game times - 8:00 - noon - 4:00. Pending the outcome of these four games will determine our rank and game times for Sunday. You see that 8:00 a.m. game on Saturday? That means we have to be there at 7:00 a.m. That means we have to leave by 6:00 a.m. That means I'm up by 5:15 a.m. - which is earlier than I have to get up on a WORK day.

And next week - we do it all again. I don't even buy groceries anymore. We're never at home. We eat at a concession stand or a drive-through window.

OK - well this summer ball will all come to an end by mid-July. Then All-Stars begin. Last year, she made the Junior All-Star team (13-14-15 year olds) and made it to one game shy of the World Series - playing until two days before school started in August and dragging me to Akron, Ohio for the Midwest Regionals. This year, she's moved up to the Senior level (16-17-18 year olds).

Please God - don't let her make the All-Star team.