Where have we been..the BALLPARK!

Watching baby girl do her thang on the pitchers mound

 

So during the game above..she kept pitching as soon as she got the ball back. The ump yells "Dont pitch when I have my hand up". She says "I can't see your hand". So I made an exception and let her take her face mask off.

She thought she was so cool

Which means we get a better view of THE TONGUE

Bring it little sister

Bring the tongue

and when she's not rocking it on the pitchers mound, she's rocking 1st base

and third base too. But lets be clear..she's not playing third base. She's chasing kids down from first to third.

and she's been swinging the bat

and running the bases

and being sassy

and a full out "HUH" here after getting a triple

and she's loving every single minute of it.

and so are we!

We are having SO MUCH FUN watching you. You give it your ALL. Only 5 games left. It's flying by!

Its all a blur

It's so cliché isn't it? When you hear people say "They grow up so fast" or "Watch it..they'll grow up on you". I've had people tell me this for years..13.5 to be exact. About how fast it goes by..and it does. It's one of those things that you just can't explain. Like the love for your child and what it's really like after you bring home a newborn. You can tell people but until they live it, words are just words and they really mean nothing.

These last few months are a blur.

Tatum & I found out in January that starting this year, there would be no JV (junior varsity) cheer squad this year. Which is what she would have been trying out for. They decided to combine squads and have one large Varsity squad. I panicked. I think Tatum is a good cheerleader but the thought of her going up against seniors scared me to death. We (She) hit the pavement running. She started doing 1.5 hrs of cheer/tumble classes 2 nights a week (Mon & Tues) and private lessons on Wed. January 31 softball practice begun. So she would go to softball 3:30-6:00 daily and then to cheer 6:30-8:00 on Mon & Tues. Her goal was to get her back handspring for tryouts.

She handled it all remarkably well. She kept her grades to where they have always been and very rarely did she complain. We did have to invest in some Icy Hot.

I was a mess. I was counting down the months, then weeks, then days to tryouts. My stomach was in knots. She (and I) spent so many Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday nights and two Saturdays doing this:

Notice she's in her softball pants :)

Untitled from Gretchen on Vimeo.

Untitled from Gretchen on Vimeo.

Then on Wed, Feb 23 during her private lesson she wigged out when going into her back handspring. This video was right after she did it. There are 2 people spotting her because she was scared.

Untitled from Gretchen on Vimeo.

Right after she just walked off the mat. Walked right past me, barefooted, headed to the car (It's Feb and it's COLD). I snatch up our things and run out behind her to find her crying. If anyone knows Tatum..she will NOT cry in front of people. She was wailing that it was broken. Two hours later at the after hours clinic they confirmed, it was broken.

I went into a panic. 

Tatum was fine. and enjoyed the attention for about 3 days. Then she ripped that splint off as it was really more annoying than she initially realized.

I remember at that point thinking to myself: Lord, please just let March 10th get here. I'm so tired of worrying. I just want it to be done and over.

March 10th came. I couldn't sleep the night before, I'm pretty sure she slept like a baby. I do remember opening my eyes that morning and feeling my stomach just knot up. It was here. The day she had been working for, for so long. At this point, I was fine either way if she didn't make it or if she did. I knew in my heart that she gave it her all. She worked as hard as I've ever seen her work for anything in her life. I was proud before she ever went out, regardless of what the outcome was going to be.

I checked her out of school that day and we had lunch, got her hair cut and put up in a ponytail (that was a brilliant move on my part. that hair didn't move during tryouts. It doesn't matter that I buy the same stuff as the salon uses. It seems to work better when they do it.) ran to Walmart to get shoe polish for her shoes and went home and got ready. She had to be there at 3:15. As I was driving my little girl to the high school we listened to Katy Perry's "Firework". If you know Tatum..she's definitely a firework. But I really emphasized the parts of the song "There's a spark in you. You've just got ignite the light and let it shine." and "To show 'em what you're worth". I was pulling in to the high school as the kids were walking to THEIR OWN cars and leaving. HOLY COW. These kids have CARS..that THEY drive. Harsh reality #1. Then I drive around to the gym, where I watch my little girl with her ponytail hop out and bounce through the crowd. The crowd that had FACIAL HAIR (harsh reality 2) and CARS OF THEIR OWN.

I was instantly taken back to when I dropped her off at school when she was in kindergarten. You see, her elementary school is a k-8 (9th grade when she started kindergarten). So when I dropped her off at the curb as a kindergartener, I would look in the rearview mirror and see her blend in with big kids. 8th & 9th grade BIG kids. and I would cry. Daily. I would pray that she would find her way to her little classroom and that my blond headed little girl with her hair in pig tails would be ok.

and here I was..doing it again. This time it's HIGH SCHOOL. 

As I pulled away all of the emotions that seemed to have been bottled up since January seemed to come out of my tear ducts and I couldn't stop it. How did elementary school just go by in a blur like that? I swear it just seems like it was a year so ago when I was watching her cheer like this:

When I got to my mama's and cried on her shoulder and got control of myself I sent my little girl a text (yes, she got a phone during all of this madness) that said:

"Good luck Tatum. I love you! Show them what you're worth! Point your toes and SMILE."

and I get back

"I will mom"..then "I'm next".

Ensue knots in stomach.

The next message I receive is

If you can't read it, this is the bottom of her shoe that says:

" I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" Phil 4:13

Wow. Here I am sitting outside of the school a hot mess of worry and there is my little girl, who all of the sudden isn't so little anymore, reminding me Who is in control of all things.

I've already given away the end of my story in my last blog post..she made it. I'm so proud of her (and would have been either way).

So now my little girl will be cheering for varsity football & basketball games as well as JV football and basketball games too. Complete with Friday night lights and Band music playing and I. CANT. WAIT.

Today, I watched her last softball game. The county tournament was today and again..all those years of softball are a now blur. and now it's over. For good. She won't be trying out for HS softball..she just can't keep up doing two sports and so she's chosen cheerleading. I'm pretty sure it was just yesterday I was at the state tournament watching this:

Fast forward 8 blurry years

It was so sad as we walked off the field and she says to me "This will be the last game I ever play at this park". {tears}

So when people tell you "It goes by so fast" Believe them. It does. I just can't believe how fast it's went by and now her ballpark days are over.  (I know that Ellen is reading this and rolling her eyes at me as she dropped her baby off at Auburn this past fall. Not to attend a football game but TO ATTEND COLLEGE. Brett should still be in the 5th grade and playing soccer. Seriously how did this happen?) I hope she remembers all those times when she hit home runs or made double plays and her biggest cheerleader was in the stands screamin' and clapping like a fool. I hope she remember how proud I was of her for keeping that chin up during games when they were behind. I home she remembers how much fun it was..because it was. It was so much fun.

Now..if I could just remember what all has happened during the blur between the March 10th and today I would be doing good. :) It all seems very blurry.