Curve Balls

When life throws you a curve ball do you swerve to catch it or swerve to dodge it? The easy way out is to dodge it. If you go in for the catch, it might hit you in the face. But, if you have the right tools and the right team behind you, the catch is always going to be worth the risk. I applaud those that go in for the catch. They may get hit in the face but will go for it again and again and when the timing is right the ball lands right in their hands.


I love the saying; "Smile at a stranger because you never know what they are going through too." ( Or something to that effect) There is always something going on in every person's life whether it is directly affecting them or indirectly. Curve balls are being thrown every second, sometimes we are the catchers and sometimes we are the pitchers. It's hard to believe but when we make a bad decision (pitching) in our lives it does affect other people. And when we see that it really has affected other people, ignoring it isn't an option anymore. What baffles me is that some people keep ignoring and ignoring until the problem has gone beyond repair, and yet they still can't see that they just might have been the initial pitcher.

Bad things happen to good people and good people do bad things. That's just an unfortunate fact in our life journey. It's hard, in the heat of the moment, to think about what our actions would do to others and cause the ripple effect. The majority of the time we have the common sense to think of others and sometimes we can be just plain selfish. I'll just do it and deal with it later. But when is later too late?

Eventually our bad decisions or curve balls do catch up with us. Do we accept responsibility for our actions or do we ignore it and hope it goes away? Most of the time when we ignore things the curve ball has been caught and thrown back in our face. Is this when we finally take responsibility for our actions or do we start to deny and blame, causing more pitching on our part.

It seems as though every decision we make big or small, good or bad does, in the long run, affect others. As hard as that is to deal with it's what we are faced with. There are a lot of people that can see the difference and unfortunately a lot of people that simply cannot.

At times it may seem that the world is stacked against you. But in reality it is NOT. You are in control of your actions, your decisions and your role in this world. God didn't make you steal that lipstick, or cheat on your spouse or abuse your child. You chose that action. Now deal with it. Accept it and think of the person that your bad decision has hurt. Did they deserve to be in the path of your destruction?

Stop denying and start dealing. Stop throwing and start catching. Easier said than done, and wishful thinking on all counts. But I've always been a dreamer that one day we will all learn how to just play nice, just like our mothers have always wanted us too.

The Day The Women Went

I took a very long break from the blog, not to worry I still have lots to say, just haven't taken the time to say it! This summer was busy, short and long all at the same time. Weddings, holidays and a lot of hanging out by our friend's pool! Now we are back in the swing of things, school, dance, Girl Guides, and soon to be ball hockey. My head space is much calmer when we have routine and I'm happy to be back at the grind so to speak.

Last weekend there was a golf tournament here in town put on by The Cougars Women's Hockey Team. I have heard a lot of things about this tournament since we moved here, and this was the first time I had participated. I'll admit some of the stories I had heard made me a little nervous about attending this function. I vowed that I wasn't going to partake in too many "beverages" so not to be the talk of the town! Well that vow was thrown out the window by the second hole! And after the third hole some events of our "golfing" is a bit of a blur.

The truth of the matter is that all the women at this tournament were there for a good time, a break from the roles we all have being wives and mothers, leaders, employees, business owners etc. We were there to just be ourselves. As a friend of mine put it, taking off the all the hats that she wore and putting on hers!

"That's me, unedited!", she said. And that is how we all felt.

How often can we just be crazy and let loose?

Everything went out the window as soon as we drove the first ball off the tee! There was "golf cart surfing", "golf cart derby" and "golf cart car pooling"! Who knew you could put four, six or nine people on one cart! The Marshal certainly had his work cut out for him! He told our team on several occasions that the carts are only for two people at a time. He explained that the year prior there was some damage to the carts because of too many occupants. So I sat down beside this elderly gentleman and asked,

"Do I look like I'm going to break this cart, Sir?"

Because he was an older man he knew the exact answer, and that of course was, "No miss, you are very beautiful. You just can't sit on the back of the cart, that is what the seats are for."

I responded with, "Well how are we going to pick up our balls without stopping and getting off then?"

He knew there was no response to that. He tipped his hat and drove off down the fairway shaking his head. I'm sure he was having a very long day, and is certainly glad that it's over for another year. We, on the other hand, are already getting our teams together recruiting more members and counting down the days until next September!

At first I was worried about what kind of women were going to be at this tournament, and worried what they would think of me, and at the end of the day I was so happy to have been invited and to have been a part of it. I'm sure there are still some that are shaking their heads as to what they actually witnessed, but it was a really good time! We were all there for one purpose and that purpose was to be "free". Free from our "hats". Free from the "rules". And to just let out that crazy inner teenager that we all have! Some expressed themselves with costumes and I must say that the "Milfshakes" were my absolute favourite!

So I thank all the women of Tofield and surrounding areas, The Cougars hockey team and my friends for an amazing day! Letting loose and having fun was just what I needed. The wives and mothers of Tofield were let out for a day and it was, in a word... epic.