Ok, a little background : Our youngest daughter is very athletic, I believe part of that is being the youngest and always trying to keep up :) Her primary sport has always been fastpitch softball, but she played basketball and volleyball also. Softball she started at age 5 in a coach pitch league, at the age of 8 she started playing travel , tournament ball, even though we resisted at first, thought she too young, too big commitment and pressure, but she begged and we relented and next thing we knew that first year, her little 8 yr old team played in only 2 tournaments,(she continued her rec league ball during the week),but those 2 tournaments had her hooked. Much more competitive, faster paced, exciting. Daddy helped coach the team that year. She started taking pitching lessons every week, and she n her dad would pitch in the back yard, for hours, but on the ballfield she never pitched, we were firm believers that she should be an all around player, not just someone who pitches but can't do anything else. So noone knew she could pitch, she wasn't one of 'those coaches kids'. The last season here everyone was shocked when she got out on the mound because one of our pitchers was gone and our other had gotten hurt, and she mowed them down, no hitter. It was rounds of where have you been hiding her?????? The following year she and Daddy built her own team for travel ball which if anyone has been involved in anything like this knows its a lot of work; from the recruiting players, teamt tryouts, practices practices practices, I as team mgr had the fun of doing all the paperwork(its all very official, lol ASA softball) had to get insurance on all girls, carry all their birth certificates with me to every game, coordinate fundraising events, and solicite donations,,,ugh months of phone calls and letters. We also had the benefit of my dad owning mexican restaurant, and i would get other restaurants to donate things like 50 lbs of cheese, lol and we did a taco sale every year, raised a lot of money that way, became a tradition, sold a lot of tacos, and btw tacos are different here, they are flour fried tacos. So all the moms would get together for 2 days before the big sale and spend hours toothpicking tacos,,take flour tortilla, cup in hand fill with meat, then toothpick both corners and the top closed, then fry them up till golden, then remove toothpicks and dress,,,anyway...we sold in neighborhood of 5000 tacos, in our two towns total population of like 22,ooo lol. it was very important to us that we paid for everything with fundraising, from uniforms, to tournament entry fees, insurance, equipment, etc, we wanted the best players, not just players who could 'pay'. Then there was the traveling all over the state and some oklahoma. For the next 4 years this team rocked, always the same core girls, sometimes lose one pick up another,, but most of them played together every year. These girls played in March at 'ice breaker' tournaments when it was 30 degrees and sleeting, and at state championships in august when it was 112 degrees and umpires were making a forced time out every inning for hydration. Every weekend we were at the ballfield,,somewhere. They were the team everyone became afraid of, had records of like 58-3, 62-4 etc. And sissy and her daddy were playing ball:)
Then a couple things happened, one way to sum it up would be to say that we had to start carrying tampons and pads in the team first aid bag :) lol puberty, hormone fun stuff. She was 13 and distancing herself from dad. Then we moved to new mexico to take care of Mom. One of the few good things there was that she could play ball all year cuz of weather, and she was only 13, an 8th grader (late summer bday so young for her class) but there they let 8th graders play high school sports if they make the cut. she did. She was 13 playing with 16-18 yr olds it was good for her , she played some varsity, but mostly was starting pitcher for the jv. Then that summer the hs played weekday tournaments against other hs, and on weekends she played on another travel tournament team,,this time her daddy did not coach, per her request. They lost a lot of games lol and she got frustrated and began to see that the team needs a hard ass like daddy as head coach and everybodies friend as assistant,, you dont do well with just a coach who is everybodies friend. Then Chaos. We moved back home, and she decided she didn't want to play anymore,, lots of excuses from I just dont want to, to I hate it, you made me play, horseshit btw, to everyone says I'm a lesbian because I play. sigh..it mostly in my opinion, hormones, being 14, and boys. Because I knew no matter what she said she loved it, I have thousands of pictures of her laughing and smiling on the field and off, like there was the time they were on rain delay for hourssss and nothing to do but hang out and wait , so what did we do?? well the teams colors were red and black,, they went to walmart and bought red hair dye and the whole team colored their hair bright bozo red,,, shoulda seen them when they finally made it on the field :) lol Anyway, so she didnt play when we came back, and she spiralled,, getting in trouble, grades, boys, lying etc. She had no focus. And well H and I were both falling apart in our ways/world also. She said a couple times this summer she wanted to play and for her dad to build her a team again, but she never pushed hard, and his response is, he wasnt up for the fighting, she said she wanted to play now, but then she'd be fighting him on the field blahblah,,,now I know that he started talkin to tow in june online, and that carried on all summer. He was checked out. Not only distancing himself from me, but the kids too. Now daughter has gotten back on track, she was inelligible to play last year because of grades, she has changed schools to an alternative school, but is still part of the hs, so can be in extracuriculars as long as grades are good and no disciplinary prob. She has never been a discipline prob at school, but was really struggling with grades, and feeling stupid etc, now at other school she is flourishing, has made up all her missed credits and is on course to graduate next year with her class, and I am so proud. Still has the loser drop out bf, but I keep hoping she will see the light,,,,,,
anyway I did not mean to go on n on, I shoulda journaled this, but my point to story was this: yesterday she txt me from school said she thinks she is elligible now and really wants to play and can I call the athletic director and talk to him. So I call and first thing he says is "ohh its been soo long since i've heard your voice on the phone ! " lol small town, before he was hs athletic director he was principal at my kids grade school, and his kids played ball with ours. Anyway, he says I ran the inelligible list and she is not on it so yes yes yes she can play,,,, they start practice on feb 27, but on Sundays they have open gym for batting practice, and is she still pitching?? yes ok on wednesdays catchers and pitchers in auxillary gym at 730,,, now these are not coach run practices, cuz rules stipulate teams cannot officially practice till feb 27, so is girls getting together on their own with some parents, can't wait to see her !!!
yeah! So I text kiddo back say yes mr fox said you can play, tell her about practices etc, she is soooooo excited, then she texts me back and says "do you think Dad will go out and practice with me since it's been so long?" I cried and responded "of course he will"
Six months ago she told my sister she wished we would just get divorced already because then I would be happier, and daddy was an ass and she hated him. At that point we were fighting a lot. Then the fighting mostly stopped and it was just silence. Then 2 months ago was dday. Minus a couple days at first when he was still somewhat foggy, things have done a 180. And even though we are working through the crap, the atmosphere in this house is 1000 times better, everybody is smiling again.
Anyway,,, yesterday evening she was rarin to go so H took her up to the field couple blocks away, cuz our backstop n cage etc are packed in garage at this point, and I went with.
They were playing catch and then she was doin some pitchin drills and her whole face was just lit up:) I cried again, happy tears.
This morning she was smiling, said my arm's a little sore, but it's a good sore. DO you think we can throw again tonight?
My heart swelled, I'm getting my head on straight, my marriage fixed, and my family back :)

sorry for the book, shoulda journaled this :)