"Stolen" Game Ball

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you've probably come to the conclusion that my life is an open book. I love to share the stories of my life with others (sometimes sharing more than I probably should). Last night something rather embarrassing happened. In fact, as we were falling asleep I asked Mike not to tell anyone about it! You might wonder why I'd be mentioning it on a public forum like my blog? Well, it's because I'm not good at hiding things! If I don't just go ahead and admit to it, every time I see these people I have a feeling of guilt...even though they wouldn't know that I did it! It's really not a big deal. In fact...it's kinda funny! However, I have a feeling that it's something that I'm gonna get ragged on for doing.

Last night Mike's softball team had a double header. Mike, Caleb, and Brody went to the batting cages before the game and then Audria, Barrett, and I met them at the game. It was a good game (at least what I saw while trying to corral the boys and talk with friends in the stands while still keeping an eye on the game) and I know Mike hit at least 2 home runs. Our team (PR Black) won the game! After the game was over, Brody got to play catch with Mike on the ball diamond! He was sooooo excited about this. He even (much to my dismay) practiced sliding. He was filthy when they walked off the field!

Since the 2nd game didn't start until 7:50 pm, I decided to take the boys home and get them to bed.

I knew we'd be getting home way past bedtime, so I told Brody that he was going to get to hear his bedtime story in the car on our way home. As soon as we got in the car I started telling him a story about a boy named Cody who had magic boots. We were already engrossed in the story as we pulled out of the parking lot. I was driving down the dark street when I saw a bright yellow softball in the middle of the road. I felt like I'd just struck gold! I know that they guys are always contributing money to buy game balls and here I'd found one that had obviously been forgotten about from a previous game! I backed up the car, opened the door, leaned out of the car to pick up the ball, and then put it in my purse in the seat beside me...all the while not breaking stride in the story that I was telling Brody.

We arrived home 20 minutes later and I hurried to get the boys in bed. After they were in bed I pulled the ball out of my purse and was a little surprised to see "BLACK" printed in sharpie on the softball. That's the name of our team! I thought, "I'm glad I grabbed that ball! They'll be happy that I found one of their lost softballs! I can't wait for Mike to get home so I can show him!"

Mike arrived home a half our later and I asked (proudly), "Did you see the ball on the desk? I found one of y'alls softballs in the middle of the road!"

Mike's eyes got really wide and he said, "That was you?!?!?!?"

I said, "What do you mean?"

He responded, "One of our guys hit a home run. He went to retrieve the ball and came back empty handed. He told us, 'I was almost to the ball when a white car stopped, grabbed our ball, and then drove off! I've never seen anything like that before! No one's ever stopped and stolen our ball during the middle of the game!'"

WHAT?!?!?!? I guess I was so engrossed in the story I was telling the boys that I didn't even realize that I was directly behind the ball diamond...and it never even crossed my mind that I could be "stealing" the game ball!!! I was mortified! Thankfully that wasn't their last ball. Can you imagine if I'd caused them to lose (a game that they won) because I'd "stolen" their last ball! I knew I'd never hear the end of it from Mike's softball team. I told Mike that I'd never be able to go to a softball game again. He just kept laughing about it (which was making it worse). He finally told me that he'd just sneak the ball back in place with the other balls at the next game. I felt like I'd gotten away with something and decided to try to go to sleep.

As I was falling asleep, I couldn't stop laughing. All I could think about was the player running back and talking about the "white car" who "stole" the game ball...and thinking about how I was the white car! I finally decided that I'd feel better if I just let everyone else in on the joke. You can all laugh about it with me...and then I'll be able to show my face at the next game. I'm sure I'll still get a few comments...but it's ok. I'll be laughing right along with them. Good thing "stealing" a game ball isn't a felony in the state of Texas! I'd hate for my "act of kindness" to put a kink in our adoption process!