Sometimes I think that the decisions our parents make for us when we are kids plays a large roll in who we are and become. I can remember my parents signing me up for t-ball when I was 5. We were the Cubs, we wore light blue and I was one of two girls on the team. I remember I didn't want to play in the outfield because I was a girl, I wanted to play second base, where the best player on our team played. I played baseball with the boys until I was told I had to play softball. My last year playing with the boys, my last game, I finally got to start at second base. I have been trying to keep up with the boys ever since.
I love baseball. My first MLB game in Texas I went on my birthday, on a Sunday afternoon, to see the Boston Red Sox play... I was trying to pretend I was still in Colorado. In reality I was in Texas, I was hot, I didn't know one player on the Rangers team and there was not a microbrew in sight. I fell out of love with baseball for 6+ years... and then I came home and moved 1.5 miles from Coors Field.
On my way home from work and on my walk to Coors Field, I pass by this one City owned baseball field. It is in the ghetto, Five Points but on the edge of the City. There is a public library next to it, with a playground. I never see children at the park, but I see baseball games, softball games daily. The kids playing are just like me, white, probably young professionals, looking to stay active. Their audience? Homeless people, black neighbors, baseball fans. This image makes me feel. I love that. I think... do the softball players care that homeless people have lined up for a game? Are they intimidated? Are the homeless people bitter, do they think the players are spoiled? Or is everyone out there just to enjoy baseball? And for a moment, for an hour... we can all put our differences aside, ignore the fact that life is not fair and just enjoy baseball... like we did that first awkward day at t-ball before we learned that we were different, that life isn't fair and sometimes it isn't about keeping up with the boys.
