For the Love of the Game

I mentioned in an early post that I took Isabelle & Jamie to a softball game while I was in Louisiana. I forgot to mention that Isabelle LOVED her excursion to the ballpark. She had been a little bit fussy prior to arriving at the field. But, seriously, the MINUTE that stroller arrived at the field she was ALL SMILES! Definitely in her genes. . .

Let me tell you a quick story about my sister Lori (Isabelle's mom). When I was 12 years old (which would've made Lori 6 years old) my rec softball team (which my dad coached)participated in a tournament called "Jamboree." It was a yearly event where a TON of teams from all over southern California came and played in a single elimination tournament. Each game was only four innings (until the championship game) but you played game after game on all these makeshift fields. That particular year my team won the entire tournament, after having to play a 10 inning game opener and then coming from behind in the championship. I don't know how many innings we played total over the weekend but I know it was a lot. Plus this tournament was an hour away (not counting traffic). By the time we made it back home on Sunday evening we were all exhausted. I remember being so incredibly sore (at age 12, is this possible?) and all of us were sunburnt from the long days outside in the heat. BUT it was still light out. I distinctly remember the first words out of my sister's mouth when we rolled into our driveway, "dad, can I pitch to you?" We all thought she was CRAZY for even wanting to look at a softball, let alone practice her pitching. If I remember correctly, my dad actually found the energy to catch her in our front yard for who knows how long. My sister could not get enough of softball. . . and now, 21 years later, her 2 month old daughter is already getting the bug. Like I said, it's in her genes!