If you've read this blog long enough you know that I am the lone, relatively small female in a house of full of four men. (one small, one medium, one large and one extra-large, but who's counting?) And though I joke about the smell, the mud and the incessant ESPN, I believe I was made to spend my days among snips and snails and puppy dog tails. Despite all my kidding about my dreams of sharing shopping and salon trips with "Fake Daughter", I adore my boys and have never once felt any deep sense of loss or absence in not having another girl in my home.
And yet.
As a girl who loves make-up and bubble baths and shoes and a good Kate Winslet movie, there are those times when I need a little sugar and spice and everything nice in my life.
Saturday, after a long, tedious week of filling in practice and game schedules on my calendar, washing stains out of white pants and buying cleats, athletic supporters and 327 gallons of milk, I found myself on the way to the third of seven baseball games that were on the schedule for the weekend. It was a beautiful day for baseball and I really was excited to sit down in my chair in the sun and watch my boys play.
I also remembered that my little friend, Sabrina and her mom, my friend, Christine, lived quite close to the park. Sabrina is a little girl who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 16 months. Sabrina has kicked a little cancer booty of late. At the age of four, she is just about 18 months cancer free and she will be one of the Patient Ambassadors for my son's baseball team when we play in the Kyle's Kamp Memorial Day tournament to benefit pediatric cancer research at Children's National Medical Center.
Sabrina came out to our baseball game on Saturday to meet the boys and coaches of the 14U Stars baseball team before the tournament next month. Before she arrived, our coach told the guys to be ready to greet her and make her feel welcome. There might have been a warning along the lines of try not to act like chuckleheads, guys.
When Sabrina arrived, donning her Giants Little League jersey and hat, my son, Kyle, put his hand through the chain-link fence of the dugout and she grabbed onto his finger and held tight for awhile. So enchanted was my 14 year old, that I'm pretty sure he almost stuck her in his bat bag and took her home. Kyle's teammate, Drew, grinned a million dollar smile at Sabrina as she told him she would have her first tball game later that day. Our catcher, Andrew, decked out in all of his gear, squatted down to meet Sabrina face to face and asked her if she'd like him to draw some black lines under her eyes to match the rest of the team. (She politely declined, "No, thank you. I don't need that.")
Sabrina met all of the parents and coaches as well. She taught us Spanish words and discussed ballet and baseball. She skipped and smiled and sang a few Frozen songs for "Miss Jenn's friends".
Girlfriend apparently had some things to say to "Miss Jenn's Friends".
A LOT of things to say
JUST SO MANY things to say:
After the boys finished their game, a number of them decided that it was the perfect time to grab a Slurpee and head over to watch their favorite littlest Giant play her first t-ball game.
Let me tell you something. There is nothing that will make your heart bust open wider than watching a group of rough and tumble teenaged boys struck still and captivated by a little girl with bouncy curls and a baseball glove.
And you know what else busts open a heart? It's when I realize that there is never a mistake in who God brings into our orbit. Sometimes He brings in people to help fill big, gaping holes. Sometimes we just have a little bitty hole that needs to be filled. I'm grateful that I don't have any big, gaping holes. The Lord has given me everything I need in this family of men. I am blessed beyond measure. But sometimes - not too often, but sometimes - the boyness overwhelms and there's a little gap that just needs to be filled up with a little girlness.
A little bit of sugar and spice and everything nice. And some pink cleats just to keep it interesting.
Te amo mucho, Sabrina. Mi corazon esta lleno.
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