dancing in the outfield

You may not know this by looking at me, but I played baseball as a child. You also may not know that right field is a good place to stick a kid who isn't very good at baseball. There aren't a lot of power hitting lefties in third/fourth grade ball, and not many kids go opposite field at that age, either, at least not on purpose. So I was put in right field for my entire third grade year. Had the ball ever come to me, I would have definitely gotten it and thrown it halfway to the infield with the rocket of an arm I didn't have.

I didn't mind being in right field. I still got a jersey and a hat. I was part of the team, and one of my best friends at the time was on the team with me. I mostly had fun, but sometimes I would get bored. No balls were hit my way for entire games at a time. My ADD would kick in, and I would get fidgety. I remember one game in particular. I was bored, so I was honing my Skip It (pictured above) skills in right field. I had no Skip It with me, so no one else knew what I was doing. I didn't even think about the fact that people would watch me. I was apparently much more entertaining than the game.

I came off the field after the last inning, got my juice box, and headed to my brother Steve. He and his girlfriend were smiling at me, and I thought it was because I had done well, and they were proud of me. I always looked up to Steve, and impressing him was important. I thought I had succeeded. Nay, nay. Steve asked, "What were you doing out there in the outfield? Dancing?"

I told him what I was really doing, which didn't discourage him from calling me his little sister at all. He made fun of me, as he was known to do, all the way home. I felt bad. I didn't impress him, and what's worse, I was caught "dancing." Would God know that I wasn't really dancing? I mean, I was Baptist, and I knew it was one of His special rules for us.

Even though I was embarrassed that day, I was forgetting two important things: I had had fun, and I had stayed engaged in something for more than two minutes. I don't know if we won the game. I wasn't paying attention to that. I was concentrating on my dancing in the outfield, and I was fabulous. Victory was mine.