Just Lucky

Clare mentioned it to Michele, who mentioned it to me, about timing and luck, I guess.  Some people have it, some people don’t.  Consider our family dentist with two boys.  They’re both catchers, one in high school and the other in college.  COVID-19 has taken a season away from them.  For the high schooler, there won’t be another year added on.

 

Clare said she can’t imagine losing her senior year in high school, although any of the other three would be just as hard, I suspect.  But, yes, senior year was special.  That child of mine was named one of the hundred best softball players in Chicagoland (thank you, Sun-Times); colleges came calling; and she hit ten homeruns.  Let me tell you about the last one.

 

We were in regionals, two runs down in the bottom of the seventh.  The first batter for Morton lifted a ball that just barely made it over the fence, so, now we’re down by one.  Up next is the Bambina, who lifts one over fence and basketball courts into the school parking lot to tie a game we won a few batters later.  Here’s the thing—that homerun came against the daughter of a D-I coach who had shown no particular interest in my child.  His mistake.

Validation like that gets carried through life.  Why else would Clare be mentioning it almost ten years after the fact?  Those catching brothers may get their chance, next year, but it can never happen this spring.  We were just lucky that way.