Butterflies...

Almost 9 years ago I was given an opportunity that would change my life forever. My friend Sallie had told me that the baseball coach at Byrnes, where I was in the 9th grade, was looking for a new girl to keep score for the team. Of course I jumped at the chance and went to meet Coach Simmons. He told me that I would be a great fit for the team and that scrimmages would start the first week in February. Boy, was I excited. I had no idea what was in store for me!

The first week of February I reported to the baseball field as told, for the first scrimmage. I can still remember the feeling. My heart was racing, my palms were sweaty, I could hardly remember my own name. I had planned for this day for 4 months. I put on my cool Nike tennis shoes, curled my hair, and wore the cutest yet casual outfit I had in my closet.

I walked into the fence and strolled down to the dugout where I met Coach Simmons and Coach Lewis. It was one of those "out of body" experiences, where I knew I was walking, but I couldn't feel a thing. In front of me were 20 of the cutest boys I had ever seen! I just kept thinking, "Wow, I am so lucky!"

It was game time so I found a seat in the dug out, got my score book, and got ready to begin. At the time I was sitting all alone. I had used all the nerve in my body just to walk down to the field, I didn't have any left to introduce myself to anyone. Luckily Coach Simmons came up and got the attention of all the boys. He then introduced me as the new score keeper and told those boys that they were to keep their hands off me! Haha. Imagine that!

A couple of games into the season I began to get to know the boys and they became more comfortable with me being around. I was sitting in my usual chair in the front of the dug out when one of the players came to sit down beside me. He was a pitcher and wouldn't be pitching that game, so he sat down with me to keep up with the pitch count. That night I made a new friend, one that I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about for the next few days!

My friend and I became very close over that baseball season, but I really dreaded to see the end come. I had developed a crush on him, and he would be graduating in a month. As I knew it, once baseball season was over, so was our friendship. I finished my 9th grade year and my friend went off to college. I was young, so I knew there would be other boys. The funny thing is, there weren't. I actually dated a few guys in high school, one for 2 years, but through all of those relationships, I could never stop thinking of him.

He would come home to football games, I would see him, and my whole world would stop. The butterflies in my stomach would just consume me. He had a girlfriend and I had a boyfriend. "If only...," I thought. I never stopped thinking about him. I broke up with my boyfriend my senior year and went on to graduate in the spring of '02. On my birthday, in June of that same year, he was drafted in the Major League Baseball draft with the St. Louis Cardinals. Whether it be the occasional IM or correspondence through his sister, I knew that what touch we still had with each other was done.

(to be continued...)