{"id":166,"date":"2021-09-05T22:33:37","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T02:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/?p=166"},"modified":"2023-09-27T22:14:36","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T02:14:36","slug":"166","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/?p=166","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;You&#8217;re Here For a Reason.&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/LydiaAllStarCatcher.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/LydiaAllStarCatcher-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-167\" srcset=\"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/LydiaAllStarCatcher-1024x768.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/LydiaAllStarCatcher-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/LydiaAllStarCatcher-768x576.jpg 768w, http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/LydiaAllStarCatcher.jpg 1312w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So Lydia is participating in the Top Gun All-Star All-American tournament in Myrtle Beach this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Friday is check-in, where she gets her uniform, assorted accoutrements, and meets her team and coaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her mood turns a little sour. \u201cI\u2019m the youngest one on the team.\u201d (It\u2019s 12U, but the girls don\u2019t age out until 1 January, making the majority of the players 12 and 13 years old.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou\u2019re here for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe pitchers are going to be fast. I don\u2019t want to catch. Can you tell him I don\u2019t want to catch?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNope, but you can if you\u2019d like\u201d \u2014she declines my suggestion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next morning, her attitude is off-the-charts bad. Total mope-fest. She gets dressed, we head to the park, and she\u2019s off to play ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After warm-ups, her attitude is turning around. When I ask her about it I get \u201cwell I\u2019m not going to be mean to the girls on my team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Naw, just the guy that brought her to Myrtle Beach.&nbsp;<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"16\" width=\"16\" alt=\"&#x1f602;\" src=\"https:\/\/static.xx.fbcdn.net\/images\/emoji.php\/v9\/t29\/1.5\/16\/1f602.png\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She\u2019s caught some, she\u2019s hit some, she\u2019s played outfield. Out of two practice games and three pool games, \u201cTeam Blue\u201d has gone 5-0. Bracket play starts tomorrow (for us) at 9:30am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We load up, everyone is exiting the park, after the last pool game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDad! Dad!\u201d &#8211; I hear an adult yelling to one of any hundred of us there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLYDIA\u2019S DAD!\u201d I turn around, it\u2019s her coach (for the record, we just met Friday, I don\u2019t know his name either&nbsp;<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"16\" width=\"16\" alt=\"&#x1f601;\" src=\"https:\/\/static.xx.fbcdn.net\/images\/emoji.php\/v9\/ta8\/1.5\/16\/1f601.png\">)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEleven?!?\u201d he says to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I laugh. \u201cIn fairness, she does turn 12 next week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou have an amazing ball player on your hands. She could guest play for me anytime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThanks, coach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As we break right in the parking lot, and she\u2019s grinning ear to ear, I remind her\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI told you, you\u2019re here for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now time for some rest, so TEAM BLUE can finish this out strong tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So Lydia is participating in the Top Gun All-Star All-American<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tellin-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=166"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions\/169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}