Softball is over… time to RV down…

With my daughter’s team losing their second game of the double elimination ASUN tournament it marked the end of 17 years of watching her play softball and marked the beginning of our full timing adventure without softball. When the final out was called by the blue… it was a Sam Peckinpah moment with time being ever so distorted with the surreal ending of it all in sight…

Although the tears of the seniors flowed when the final out sounded it was now obvious that this was the time for all of us to turn the page and begin the next chapter of our lives. My daughter had a great performance in the ASUN tournament batting .400 with two walks and an RBI but more importantly her stellar career at Campbell included earning a fabulous education in her seemingly short four years… She ended this chapter of her life at Campbell University with a career batting average of .320 and owns the career record for walks for anyone donning the Campbell uniform at the university. Her name shows up in many of the career top ten statistics for players at her school so for years to come she will be able to relish her moments of her time at Campbell University.

So what could be better than all this? She did all this while playing nearly every inning of every game of softball that was played while she was a student there and she was able to complete her college degree in four years. What is even better is she did all this and remained debt free since she was able to obtain a full scholarship to go to school (a combination of athletic and academic monies). I saved the best for last…

Even though her career batting average was .320 her Grade Point Average was even better and that is an exceptional accomplishment while performing as a fulltime athlete and makes us both very proud of her. However, softball and Campbell for her and for us are now over and hopefully the next chapters of our lives will be as enriching as the were last four years.

In the meantime, as her parents, our lives too must go on and as a result we are now beginning to enjoy our time by slowing down and enjoying each and every moment. So on our first full day after the softball season closed we stayed “home” in our RV and reminisced.. and took in the moment… baking freshly homemade “everything” bagels in our RV convection oven. While sitting in our chairs outside under the awning of our home listening to the squirrels quarrel with each other… the aroma of the fresh baked bagels washed the sadness away… Ahhhh yes, the next chapter looks like it will be wonderful…