This I Believe
Bottom of the 6th and there I was, age 12 working my little left field on the Arcadia American Little League field. To the tell the truth, actually really didn’t like baseball much anymore and I was much more focused on counting the number of gopher holes that there were in the field. I didn’t play that much except today we only had 12 players and my coach found a way to squeeze me into his field, or so he would say. “Your OUT!” Bellowed the umpire. Amazing I told myself only 1 more out and I would finally be out and off this dreaded field, I really didn’t care if we won our league much, plus it wasn’t as if I had won it anyways. “Ball!” I had however really gotten tried of being pushed around by the other kids on the team, I kept telling myself one day ill stand up and say something to one of them. I felt as if though that time had past, we once practiced at my elementary school baseball field. My apathy for baseball was directly countered for my love of student government, and I had decided to run for treasure of my schools student body, so I had to put up posters and campaign for the position. They spat on my poster, my teammates spat, on my poster. I told myself then also that I would say something to them one day, even my coach told me that one day I would be better than them, happier then them, one day. One day? When will that one day be today? Or Now? “Ball!” Oh come one! If I have to stand out here and talk myself though another inning I swear, I told myself. We were currently ahead by one point but they had a batter on 3rd and 2ed just waiting to run in and another walk was exactly what we didn’t need.
At that moment the next pitch was thrown and the ball flew strait up in the air, right to me, I wouldn’t had even seen it if it weren’t for the sudden gasp. I looked up and the ball was literally right above, I moved my glove up into the air closed my eyes at the sun and…
“Flop!” The ball fell into my glove! And then out.
For that split second I reached into my glove thinking that I had finally proven myself to the team I was “cool” enough for them, only to see an empty Wilson glove looking back into my face. I looked back up to see a team, a coach, an audience with the same ghastly look on their faces as mine.
This moment of my life was NOT the “one day” I was waiting for. Matter in fact it was never in baseball that I had my “one day,” although I will complement myself and say that I did get better setting the homerun record for my Elementary School. No, my moment came to me the day I walked off the baseball field after resigning from my career as an Arcadia National League All Star and turned to my friend Willie, another baseball player who wasn’t “Top Notch,” and said, “Man, we suck!” And he turned to me and said, “Yup, but I think that the team snacks afterward made up for it.” At this I smiled. And realized that no matter what you do, or what happens, there will always be something you can smile about, that my “one day” I had been looking for was everyday. Life isn’t about being the best, but the smiles you make during it.