Batter up!

Last winter, the idea of joining the New York Life softball team with Miles sounded like a fun idea!  I've always wanted to participate on a company team!  We got cool, official-like jerseys and everything!  Yay, team!

And then the week before the first game arrived.  "What do mean there's NO practices?!?!?" I yell at ask my husband.  Just games?!!  We just go right into the GAMES?!?!  I haven't played since I was NINE!!!!  It hits me, then, what softball means.  Softball=having to catch balls.  I don't do balls very well.  And sometimes they come at ya FAST and HARD!  Sometimes they go up real high and you have to run, run, run and CATCH that thing or else you look like a douche.  Sometimes they are grounders and my low-back HATES those and they pop up in your face sometimes....
And then there is batting.  Actually hitting the friggin' ball when you're supposed to and knowing when NOT to cuz it's going to be a "ball". 
This SUCKS!!!   I suck at sports!!!!
And I sure did for the first 2 games.  Out in left field.  Again.  Hey, they recognized I'm ALWAYS out in left field.  I rock that left field!  Just like when I was nine.  Standing out there....looking at the clouds....pickin' and sniffin' the clover....lost in a daydream....swattin' mosquitoes. Happily I get no ball action out there.   At least Miles is out there with me keeping me on task. 
"Hey, I can RUN, though!  That I'm good at!  If only I could HIT the softball so that I could actually run to first base....."

Before and during the next 2 games, when we had the chance, Miles and I (and sometimes, Willa)would throw the ball to each other.  A first I could not get my glove to work.  Stupid, brand new, stiff glove wouldn't work right!  But then, all of a sudden, I was catching balls!  I was doing pretty well!  And throwing them not so much like a girl anymore!  OK!  I got this!  I might just be able to catch a ball if one comes my way.  My confidence was growing.
Then came last night's game .  It was a double header because the first team's opponents couldn't make it for some reason.  I was looking forward to the extra batting practice because we've not been able to get over to the batting cages.  I don't know what happened...but I hit that first ball pitched to me, pretty hard and well, and after that I hit every goddamn ball that came my way!!!  Every one!  I was SO friggin' excited!  I'm actually a contributing member of the team, now!  Not the one who makes everyone groan when she steps up to bat.  Not me, baby!
 I said goodbye to that gawky spacey 9 year old out in left field because her mother wanted her to do SOME kind of sport....  I told her, "I'm so sorry your confidence was SO low.  That you were not supported and encouraged in a positive way by coaches and teammates.  You HAD the ability, kiddo!  It's was already there!  All it took was confidence and faith in yourself... you needed  someone to help you find it but they weren't there.  I'm sorry it's taken 43 years to get there."

 

But we're HERE, NOW.   And I "found it" myself.  In the last year, between the running, rowing, and softball, a competitor has emerged. 

And I'm LIKING it!

Lynx and mountain hyjinx

Today we had a couple "firsts"!  We woke up to the mama moose and her baby grazing around the side of the house.  As I was sitting on the couch getting my morning java infusion and information gathering, some movement out the window caught my eye.  A LYNX!!!!  Sort of rare to see and even more rare to capture a photo.  I ran for the camera and got a few, mostly blurry shots, of the small lynx sauntering around the house, probably following the smell of that baby moose.  I got one decent photo and some video:

Kitty, kitty, kitty!!!!!

Very exciting to watch him pass right along our back door and under Willa's bedroom window!

After Willa's running class we headed out to Palmer to climb the Butte.  The Butte is a 881 foot isolated mini mountain rising abruptly in stark contrast from the flat farm lands of Palmer.  This prominent landmark, or, mountain "light" if you will, is dwarfed in comparison the 360 degree view of mountains surrounding it- the reward after climbing the sometimes steep, sometimes rocky, oft dusty trail.  Why, hello, Talkeetna Mountains, Chugach Range, Knik Glacier, Matanuska River and, on a clear day, Mount Susitna!!!!  WOW.  Something Wonderful, indeed!!!!  While the views are mind-blowing, the Butte itself is ravaged by social trails and is in major need of restoration and monitoring.  At the top you'll find tons of people and, unfortunately, trash and the occasional graffiti tag.  :(

Willa and I where chased by 25,091,494,020 mosquitoes on the way up, accosted by a dust devil at the top(Willa, obsessed with tornadoes, was THRILLED!), and eyed suspiciously by a group of umbrella toting Asians-the women all in HEELS?  The Valley.  Always a surreal experience.

A BIG challenge....

.....turning OFF the laptop, saying no to watching movies during the day, and saying "suck it!!!!!" to any inclement weather threatening to keep us inside!
Living strong!
.....trying to experience SOMETHING WONDERFUL each and every day.  Living it like it's all we've got.  Awhile back I saw someone's blog where they had given themselves a symbolic 6 Months To Live.    It was a challenge the blogger gave herself to live those days to the fullest...and it changed her life.

Now it would totally freak me out to "act as if" I only had 6 months to live-I don't want to invite any negative connotations and vibes into my life!- so I won't use those particular words, but I DO want to stop taking each day for granted.  I don't want this summer to go by with any wasted opportunities.  Many would consider our life already pretty full, and it is, but I want to go deeper.  I'm talking about those smaller moments throughout the day as well as the bigger experiences.  If I only had a limited time to live, I sure as shit would be trying to fill every day to the brim.  Why not DO that this summer?!  The perfect time to experience quality AND quantity time with my family.  I want to be able to say each day that I experienced Something Wonderful.  Whether it's making slime with Willa, going for a hike somewhere new, creating something I'm proud of, learning something new.....  being more mindful of when stressors make me start to feel impatient or crabby and trying my best to over come those moments....not saying, "nah, maybe another time" when Willa asks to do some little thing.....TRULY making each moment the highest form of what it was meant to be.  BEING the highest form of myself that I can reach.

I have this summer to LIVE.

Today's Something Wonderful:

One of our favorite harbingers of Spring/Summer....brand new baby moose and their mamas visiting our property!  This is the view right outside of Willa's bedroom window.