Growing Up with Softballs and Bubbles

My first year of softball.

    Softball was probably one of the first sports my parents pushed me to participate in, but if it hadn't been for their pressure, I wouldn't have become the competitive, spitting, dirt-loving, gum-chewing individual that I am today (plus, I know how to use a bat).  When my parents first informed me that they had enrolled me in summer tee-ball, I responded with a question: "You mean I gotta wear a dutty glub?"  With the deal that my parents would coach the team, I decided that getting a little dirty wouldn't be so bad.
    Boy or girl, we all start hitting off of a tee, and we all do cartwheels and chase butterflies in the outfield.  One of the clearest memories I have involved gum and hair.  You see, there is no softball (or baseball for that matter) without packing your mouth full of gum and blowing the biggest bubbles.  Since my parents were the coaches, they would always supply our dugout with water and Bubblicious.  During one game, our first baseman was completing her main task by blowing the biggest bubble yet; however, this bubble burst onto her face and sadly into her hair.  The game was suspended until the gum was removed, and the player was clear of all Bubblicious.  Remember, this was little girls' softball; parents were more concerned with the wellbeing of their child instead of the outcome of the game (at least in the 90's, this is how it was).  The gum was successfully removed with a little bit of ice, and the game resumed.  Luckily, we had no hair casualties.

Winner, winner....

    These games would usually end with the coaches, or a giving parent, purchasing the players snow cones.  When the parents were feeling really generous and up for some child-time, we would get to celebrate a win by feasting on some cheese pizzas at Pizza Man.  The party would truly get started by setting Spice Girls to play repetitively on the jukebox and singing into the parmesan and red pepper shakers.  This is probably what divided the softball girls from the baseball boys, but to this day, it is still uncertain.
    With the chants from the dugouts and the diving plays in the fields, softball taught me, and most likely my friends too, how to be a team player and especially how to blow some serious bubbles.  I would never exchange that time for anything else, so thank you, parents, for that push!  Arlington softball leagues, here I come....and I'm bringing my dutty glub!