f r e s h s t a r t

Saturday, May 06, 2006

 

The day my family thought would never come...

Today I played on an organized team sports team for the first time since the third grade. Yes, I was on sports teams in high school, but they were of the solitary sort: tennis and track. Today I played softball in a co-ed league. I had heard that some friends of friends from law school were organizing a team and that they were in need of more women, and so feeling adventurous, I signed up. Rami, Dana and I all missed the first game last week so we could attend a civ pro review session, but we were up and ready to play this morning.

I must say that a feeling of dread ran through me as we first drove past the playing fields. These were nice softball fields, and bigger than the ones I remembered from elementary school. I saw people actually hitting the balls, throwing the balls, and looking like they knew what they were doing. We found our team (mostly 3Ls that I didn't know, but also Rami's sister Dima), warmed up and got a little batting practice in.

I can report that I didn't embarrass myself. I hit the ball each time I was at bat. They caught it the first time, and the next two times they got me out at first, but at least I didn't strike out. I played catcher and right field with enthusiasm, though without a lot of skill.

The best part was just being out in a part of the park system that I had never used before. I've run by, biked by and rollerbladed by the playing fields in Chicago's very long Lincoln Park, but had never before played a game.

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