Update on #5 on the Bucket List

    #5 - Join a sports team. For a former fatty and a lifelong unathletic awkward girl, this task seemed fairly insurmountable. I mean, first of all what sports team would want me? Second of all, was I up to the challenge of making a complete ass of myself everytime we'd have practice or a game? Well the answer to those questions came to me about four years ago when I was on one of my many weight loss kicks and was trotting (aka huffing and puffing at a mild walking pace) at the local high school's track. Below where the track sits are the school's softball fields and I observed people my age (and older) playing on the fields. Every time I looped the track, I'd crane my neck to get a glimpse of the action. And I said to myself, "I want to play softball; I might suck, but at least I could meet some new people and also have a new method of exercise that wouldn't bore me to tears." I returned home and told my dad (who has always been incredibly athletic and has played on numerous softball teams even in his older age) that I wanted to play and I thought that he and I should find a team and play together. We promised one another that we would look into it and get ourselves signed up to play the following year, and as luck would have it we didn't have to look too far. A friend of ours, a pastor at a local church, was attempting to start a team for his church to play in the league; now even though we do not attend his church, he was recruiting and we were dying to play. So in a serendipitous twist of fate, my dad and I joined the NCCC team for that following summer.
     This year will be my third year on the team and I have to admit, I'm still not great. But obviously, after having lost 100 pounds, playing has gotten a hell of a lot easier! We had our first scrimmage last night and I was AWESOME. And not just awesome compared to how I used to be, but awesome compared to the normal scale of athleticism! I was smacking the ball into the outfield, I was playing second base and right field, when I used to hide behind the plate as catcher. I was sprinting around the bases scoring one run after another - I was on fire. Now, instead of feeling trepidation for upcoming games and practices, I am super excited. To be honest, I guarantee I'll still have errors and flubs, but I'm out there playing better than I ever have and I'm having a blast doing it. I can't ask for anything more than that!