Yesterday seemed a little peppier than usual. The muscles still sore from training the day before and dreading the next day. At work, the mind was actually working well after a technical glitch derailed progress for about and hour. A late meeting was the last thing on the business agenda.
She strode in with a smile on her face. She was a candidate for an internship with my company. JW as I will call her is a person who has established that she knows what she wants to do with her life. She wants to be a television cameraman (she dispensed with the person angle.) We talked about her goals and aspirations and I shared with her that I enjoy the energy of young people, especially those who know what they want.
I showed her some simple things from the work I had done for the Husky Gymnastics team last year. In the presentation, I pointed out a few things I looked for in a production, paying close attention to two shots that were throw aways that ended up as key shots in the piece. Both shots were extreme close ups of eyes. Both told their own story.
I said to JW, "don't ever think that you will have a shot that won't mean something to someone," or something profound like that. She smiled and said, "see, not even the first day and I am already learning from you."
A shot of my eyes would have shown a smile with a small tear. Yep, I get emotional when I believe I have helped someone see their dreams.
Later in the evening, I took the mound (or is it the rubber for softball - there is no mound, just dirt - but I digress) for my weekly softball game. We barely had enough players as Marilyn returned from her elopement. We were still shorthanded and playing against the top team in the league. For two innings, no runs by either team. Softball is a game where you are supposed to score, and we were stymieing each other. In the third, they didn't score, we did - seven to be exact. As I pitched in top of the fourth, no soup for them. Then we blasted off for three more runs. We were winning by 10 and I thought the game was over with the mercy rule. I was one inning early, and the other team has to score at least one run. So now I know.
The opponents scored two, then shut us out, then scored two more. We buckled down and scored three more runs to make it 13-4. One more run, and the game would be over. One more out, and they would have another chance.
Rewind to last season, when we faced the top team, and gave up 9 runs in the last inning to lost the game.
Back to the present and I am up. I had struck out once doing an Ichiro impersonation trying to save my shoulder and go left. I was back to the right, and should I say proper stance. Somewhere, a bolt of energy flew through my body and I smashed the ball, driving in the "game winning" run. My teammates gathered around me and gave me lots of congratulations. It was the single best sports moment of my competitive life. Nothing in high school ever matched it.
As I got into my car, I opened up my e-mail as I usually am compelled to do and there was an e-mail from my former colleague Tiffany. I had written her to send best wishes about her baby, and to let her know about a business lead.
I thought Tiffany had left her Seattle life behind, and me with it. She was the most talented person to ever work for me, and I have never been able to replace her. I thought she had gone on to her own life, and just moved on.
The note I got said something a lot different. She called me a mentor, although she taught me much more than I thought I taught her. She was extremely grateful, and had not left me behind. I had made an impact on someone who was looking to see her dreams. The same tear that had popped up earlier in the day came back.
Making a difference in people's lives is what I live my life for. So to have so many experiences in doing just that made it a good night, and one that I will put in my pocket for those days when life doesn't seem to make sense.
Good night, fellow players. I look forward to the next chapter.
Yours truly,
Johnny Blogger
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