Green Dresses and Good Baseball

For the second year in a row, I bought a sundress to kick-off spring training. It is a floor-length, kelly green dress with an empire waist and a sweetheart neckline. I don't ever wear dresses that long because of my height, but this dress actually made me look taller, if you can imagine that. 

It was outside my comfort zone, but I decided to be brave and buy it. I put it in my closet and tried it on several times. Finally I decided to take the plunge. Josh was pitching at home on Sunday, which dawned sunny and breezy. By all indications, the perfect day for a green sundress. All morning I did pep talks.

"It's a free country," I told myself. "I can wear whatever I darn well please to a baseball game. If they think I'm weird, who cares. Let them think what they want." 

At 1:15, the big moment came. It was time to put the dress on in all it's flowing greenness. I had planned to wear flip-flops. One pair made me look like a flower-child and the other looked ridiculously dorky. The most attractive option was my flax pumps with a three inch heel. I really looked tall now. What is it about height that imbues power? 

I could "feel the power" but I could also feel the nausea building in my stomach. I am not generally a proponent of wearing heels to baseball games, though I do it from time to time when my pants are too long or when I feel fat and want to look taller. While of course being terribly cute, they are terribly impractical, often hideously uncomfortable, and at times dreadfully dangerous as metal bleachers tend to snag shoes and trip their occupants. 

I had already committed time, money, and energy to this dress. I wasn't about to let wearing heels stop me. So I didn't. I slipped on those heels, grabbed the baby, and off we went before I had time to have second thoughts. We arrived at the field at 2:30. Josh was not scheduled to pitch until the 9th inning. It should be about the 5th inning. Perfect timing. 

The field is part of a city park. Like most city parks, it's a shorts and t-shirt atmosphere. The fields are arranged in clover-leaf fashion, with the player parking lot and the clubhouse on the north side. A long, blacktop path runs from the clubhouse to the center of the cloverleaf, where all the bleachers are located. Players, coaches, trainers, friends, family, and fans regularly walk back and forth on this path. 

I took a deep breath and started down the path with as much grace as I could muster, pushing McKenzie in her stroller, my green dress blowing around me in the breeze. A few players walked by and just sort of looked at me. I mustered a friendly, disinterested "Hi, how are you?" and marched on. If this was anything like running the gauntlet, I felt the pain of past sufferers. At long last, I got to the bleachers, which provided no respite whatsoever. 

The double-a and triple-a teams were playing on two separate fields. In addition to the players in the game, there are countless other players in running shorts and turf shoes, watching the game, charting, catching foul balls, or hanging around laughing, spitting great wads of spit with their buddies. When Josh was with the Nationals, I could figure out which field he was on by seeing who else was in each group. I don't know the Orioles' players well enough to do that yet. 

There I was, green from head to heal, getting stared at by the gum-spitters, trying to protect the baby from foul balls hurtling out of both fields, and straining with every ounce of eyeball muscle to find Josh. Thankfully, he put me out of my obvious confusion by stepping out of the dug-out and waving. 

What a relief! I did have a legitimate reason to be there. The rest of the game was spent trying to keep McKenzie out of the way of the players and coaches milling around, trying not to get my heels caught in the hem of the dress, and trying to watch and pray for Josh in between it all. 

He came on about 30 minutes after we got there with two outs in the 7th and runners on 1st and 3rd. A ground ball to short was all they needed to turn a double play and end the inning. He was back on in the 8th, struck out the first hitter, gave up a double to the second, struck out the third, walked the fourth, and got the 5th out on a pop fly to short. It was not as clean as he would have liked, but it was strong and he showed he could pitch in tough situations. Thank you Lord! 

He is scheduled to throw again Wednesday. We are praying a few things: that his arm/shoulder stays strong and healthy; that he is able to consistently get on top of the ball and throw strikes to the inside; and that he keep his arm up while pitching. The Lord has truly been answering all our prayers and we thank you for joining us as we seek His direction for us this season. 

Love to all!