A Left-Handed Slugger

So I am confident that Claire will be an incredible wife and mom because she’s had lots of practice. She is currently the Mother of an entire Church in Charlotte. Really, she runs the whole show and pulls all the strings. She keeps he wheels on the bus, the steering wheel in the right direction, prepares lunch, cleans up behind messy people, prays with broken people, organizing ridiculous teams of individuals, and all around makes ministry happen at her church. So when her church decided to have a softball tournament after Sunday service one day, her job got real complicated. It was no surprise that on the day of the big game, she was running a hundred miles an hour in a thousand directions, but some how she still managed to join one of the make-shift teams. She was a great bat in the line up, if you could find her and stop her hands from cleaning or mouth from talking. A left-handed slugger.

A few months later, Claire and I were preparing for a Redneck/Hippy Hybrid Softball/Campout Tournament called “The Rhododendron Festival” held every year in Valle Crucis, NC. I’ve played the tournament every year since I was born, I play on the same team my dad played on and my uncles and cousins all play. To get ready, cheap ol’ me decided to buy a new used glove from Play It Again Sports. Claire road with me. I didn’t notice it immediately, but as I tried on gloves, Claire tried on gloves. As a lefty, my gloves didn’t fit her and her gloves didn’t fit me. The best part of the story occurred when I picked a glove and proceeded to checkout, excited about my find. I paid and we left.

Claire was sad.

Then it hit me. Claire tried on gloves and really wanted one. I am an idiot, but I am smart enough to turn around and buy her a glove. I remember telling her, “You are worth a $30 dollar used baseball glove.”

Now she has a glove, but it was then that I learned she had never had her own glove before, and so had never learned to play catch. That afternoon, we recreated the great movie, Sandlot, in her front yard. I taught her to play catch. Since then, it is one of our favorite activities. We’ll stand in front of our respective houses, on the beach, in front of school, at rest stops, campgrounds, etc. and just throw the ball like kids.

We showed up to the tournament, and guess who forgot their brand-new, first-of-her-life glove.


I love it.

She is really good too.

Just because I love this scene: