"You Could Drive A Person Crazy" (COMPANY)

Today I trekked out to Brooklyn to play softball. We'll call it Brandeis volleyball invades Brooklyn for Softball. Vanessa, the ultimate organizer, had put together a day for us to play softball complete with rules, schedule, team names and captains, scorebook, and refreshments. She is the best at this kind of thing. It was a nice WARM day for this and it filled up our afternoon with good times. For me it was a little trip down memory lane.

Softball, I say, would be my family's choice of sport. I grew up with the sport every summer as it was a family affair. Cousins, uncles, and aunts filled teams, sometimes traveling to tournaments around Texas and in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Louisiana. We would even go to the Softball Hall of Fame in OKC as a huge family. Fastpitch softball was our fanatical way of life during the summers, and though it was a family pasttime and I gave it a try on the field, it was not a strong passion like I have felt with tennis, dance, and volleyball. Don't get me wrong, I love a good game and watch softball games on TV especially the Women's College World Series but it's not a sport that I actively play. Today being the exception. Hopefully we'll get to do a few more dates before the summer ends. Touching and throwing a softball brought back so many memories.

Following afternoon play, a few of us moved over to Queens to celebrate our friend Claire's birthday. She was away at a wedding during her actual birthday so we were celebrating it a week later. Claire is a known carnivore and just does not do well with vegetables, so we took her to a Brazilian BBQ restaurant. This was like heaven for her because they brought out all kinds of meat to the table and she got to pick and choose. The selections were delicious and the entire table of 13 was completely in a food coma in less than an hour including me. Claire is a no-nonsense gale who cracks me up with her appropriate subtleness yet her straightforward manner when the matters calls for it. She's a force to be reckoned with on the volleyball court even if it's all guys, she's still not scared. She's one person who always comments about how she loves the diversity of our group and I would have to agree.

People are brought into our lives for a purpose that I truly trust God does. I might not always know their purpose right away but they may help me through a struggling time or just provide a laugh at the proper moment. Either way that person is in my life for a reason. I'm better for knowing them and I hope that I enrich their lives in return. I must include lyrics to two songs that put it best.

"FOR GOOD" (musical WICKED)
ELPHABA
I'm limited:
(Spoken)Just look at me –
I'm limited
And just look at you -
You can do all I couldn't do, Glinda
So now it's up to you
(spoken) For both of us
(sung) Now it's up to you:

GLINDA
I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you:

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

ELPHABA
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend:
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you:

GLINDA
Because I knew you:

BOTH
I have been changed for good

ELPHABA
And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done you blame me for

GLINDA
But then, I guess we know
There's blame to share

BOTH
And none of it seems to matter anymore

GLINDA (overlapping Elphaba)
Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes the sun.
Like a stream the meets a boulder halfway through the wood.

ELPHABA (overlapping Glinda)
Like a ship blown from its mooring by a wind off the sea.
Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood.

BOTH
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
I do believe I have been changed for the better?

GLINDA
And because I knew you:

ELPHABA
Because I knew you:

BOTH
Because I knew you:
I have been changed for good.
**************************************
"I BELIEVE" (musical ALTAR BOYZ)
[Abe]
One beam of light, is enough to see where you're going
One wrong turn, is enough to loose your way
One choice, is all you have to make
One ounce of faith could save the day
I believe, that I came to know you for a reason
I believe, that the things that you say will come true
I believe that with you in my life I'll make it
I believe in you .stlyrics

[Juan]
One Mistake, doesn't have to mean that it's over

[Luke]
One bad day, only means there's work to do

[Mark]
One night, is sometimes all it takes

[All]
To realize one thing is true
I believe, that I came to know you for a reason
I believe, that the things that you say will come true
I believe that with you in my life I'll make it
I believe in you

[Matthew]
Take a picture of me now, take a look at who I am
Yesterday I wasn't half as strong

[Abe, Juan, Luke, and Mark]
Take a picture of us all, what we've been and what we are
Look at that, and tell me I'm wrong

[Matthew]
I BELIEVE!

[Abe, Juan, Luke, Mark]
That I came to know you for a reason

[All]
I believe, that the things that you say will come true

[Matthew}
Oooohhh

[All]
I believe that with you in my life I'll make it
I believe in you
I believe in

[Matthew]
You

[Abe, Juan, Luke, Mark]
I believe in

[All]
You-ooh-hoo