My Daughter is Superman

It is amazing the things our children take from us. My daughter gets a lot of her personailty from her father. They are two peas in a pod. One thing she did get from me is the idea woman should be equal on every level. She never likes to be told she cannot do things boys do.

I just found out the other day that when she played baseball last year, the umpire in Highland Springs told her that she should being playing softball with the girls and not little league with the boys. This infuriated her and she has had a chip on her shoulder every since.

This little league season she plays in the Major division with other 11 and 12 year old boys. She wants to fit it, she refuses to use her purple bat bag anymore. She hates when I baby her in front of the boys and will get cranky about.

But she has built a good relationship with the boys on her team.

Yesterday my daughter prove her toughness and earned the respect of the league. Her team, the Indians, were playing against the Mariners. She was playing second base. I was on the opposite of the field talking to a parent. The ball was hit and she was making a play on the ball when I saw her get ran over. The collision looked like she was hit by a freight train. Every inch of my soul wanted to jump over the fence and run to her and kiss her boo-boos. But I stayed put and waited to see how she would react. She stood up with tears in her eyes. The coaches ran out and everyone kinda held their breath. She got up with tears in her eyes and refused to come out of the game. I knew she was hurt,but I knew she was angry more than anything.

She stayed in the game and everyone clapped. When that was over, the umpire decided to call the kid out for running her over which peeved off the parents of the other team and their coach.

Finally the inning was over and she was first up. I went to check on her and she was shaken. I told her to calm down and get her head in the game. She got up and struck out.  She was not letting it go. I think she felt like he did because she was a girl.

The second inning there was a play and her teammate threw so hard it popped and hit her face. It hit her in the jaw. This time she came out of the game. I went over to talk to her and she was crying.

She was a wreck. I pulled out of the dug out and told her she needed to let the collision go and she needed to sit on the bench. It was obviously in her head and she was making mistakes that she would not make. I told her she was more of a danger to herself.

I went back on the other side of the field and tried not to hoover. She got up to bat and I held my breath. She got and put her bat up to bunt. Finally she made contact bunted the ball and advanced the runner. It was great. The confidence started coming back over her and she seemed calmer.

Then the next inning came and the ball was hit hard and took a crazy bounce and she jumped right in from of it. She fielded the play and threw it to first.

By the ended the game, the Indians were making a come back but fell short by two runs.

At the end of the game, her coach awarded her the game ball. This is not normally awarded unless the game was won.

She came off the field beaming. Everyone came up to her telling how great she did and how tough she was. One mom told me that she waiting for me to jump the fence and run out there. I told her that I wanted too.

She talked to a couple of the guys. The other team even asked if she was okay. Finally we got to the car and her team mate yelled her that, "Hey Taylor, I am not calling you that anymore. You are now Superman."

He flashed a little smile and got in the car.

Taylor looked at me and said, "Mom, it should be superwoman."

"Taylor, it means he thinks of you as an equal. Let him call you superman."