The Great American Pastime

I love baseball.

My uncle used to ump for the minor leagues in the Cleveland area (and had to get double knee replacements as a result).

My parents' business used to sponsor my youth softball team.

My dad used to let me skip school twice per year to attend Reds games with him.

My lil sis is getting married at home plate on the Cincinnati Reds Baseball Field. 

So you can tell, the love kind of runs in the family. 

This summer, I've taken a hiatus from performing on the stage to give myself an opportunity to perform on the softball and ultimate frisbee fields... amongst other summer enjoyableness (wink wink).  I'd love to be able to practice outside of games or hit the batting cages, but being able to play at all is enough to make my little heart happy.

Not only does playing get me going, but before and after the games, dozens of my friends are filtering in and out of the ballpark for games of their own, since this is a church organized event.  I have often found myself sitting and chatting with people for an additional two or three hours.  On those evenings, I can't help but sit back on the cement bleachers, take a deep breath of the popcorn and leather in the air, let the sun radiate on my skin, listen to the crack of the ball amidst the laughter, and think to myself, "Summer doesn't get much better than this." 

This was me after a wicked slide to third base post-storm a couple of years ago