Full Circle

After Easter Mass Sunday morning, somebody Clare’s age came up to her and asked if she was in fact Clare. The person doing the asking had been on the same travel team in 2009. She was married and had a boy Leo’s age. I stood a little to the back, not remembering Nina. Later, Clare showed me pictures before dinner. Oh, Nina. The two of them sat together at Hooters in Bloomington one night when the idiot coaches let the team vote on where they wanted to eat. Nina and I also sat together in the dugout—I kept score for the team—all through the tournament in Joliet, when Clare hit five homeruns in two days and yet somehow missed tournament MVP, again thanks to idiot coaches. Now, fourteen years later, the ex-pitcher and ex-second basemen are mothers of boys who are starting to hit balls. Proud parents, with grandparents wondering if they’re in for another round of tournaments, games seemingly without end, my kid with an 0-2 count, always with an 0-2 count and a smile on her face…