Nice touch. Baseball was the game when I was in elementery school. I couldn't throw, couldn't catch, couldn't hit, and struck out eight times out of ten. Strangely, I still loved the game. Somewhere in junior high school some things began to click. No one would take the time to teach me what to do, they just had more fun ridiculing me and my ineptitude. So, I took it on myself to learn how to play the game. Defensively, I became an adequate outfielder, but never having had instruction, ground balls ate my lunch. I taught myself how to switch hit. By the time college came around, I was playing fast pitch softball in a church league. I became a decent hitter with no power. I played intermural ball in college and our team won the school championship. In the military, I played fast pitch for four years until I married and they went to slow pitch.

I guess, the point is, had someone really cared to take the time to at least teach me the fundementals, maybe I would have not had to suffer the abuse that I did. Most just enjoyed making fun of me. It brought me to tears many times. I can remember going to the park to play pickup games and being chosen early because I could hit. One of my team mates went on to play in the major leagues for many years. It used to be, I was always last. What a humiliating process that was. Schools should never have allowed that process. It was very cruel because you were out there being pointed out as not being worthy of being a member of the team.

Learning to play ball and golf did a lot for my self esteem; however, if someone had taken an interest early on my attitude might have been remarkedly different about many things. My feelings about my gender never would have changed, though, and that was something that no one knew. I can imagine what would have happened if they did. This was back in the 1950's and early '60's.

Portia

Very Cute!

-HuGgLeS-
-P/KAF/PT