Decade

I went to my daughter's junior fast pitch softball game tonight. Her team played a very talented (and tall) group of girls. As my daughter got up to bat, I recognized the pitcher as a girl who had started daycare with my daughter almost ten years ago (it will be ten years on July 17th to be exact - more useless information that my brain stores). And I saw the two girls playing ball on different teams, and I got choked up remembering that first day of daycare all those years ago.

When Kate started daycare at three months old, this other little girl was a smiley little six-month-old. Kate was the only other girl in the baby room at that time, and this other girl was so happy to have her to play with that she sat and shook a rattle until she fell over. And even though they were totally different girls and never best friends, they knew each other until this girl left our school when our school district was restructured a couple of years ago.

So, I sat on the bleachers watching the game, and I caught the eye of the other girl's mother in the other team's bleachers. She was also teary and smiled at me with quivering lips. I went over and gave her a hug and said, "Who would've thought that time would go this fast?" And she said, "It's good to see them together again." And we sat and talked and laughed about our kids and got caught up.

My daughter struck out tonight. But, she got a girl out at first base in one inning, so that kind of made up for it. (It was a very snooty girl that Kate knows from school. And she cried when Kate got her out. Bonus.) And we lost the game. You win some, you lose some.

And I wondered if the girls would continue to cross paths in years to come. I'm sure they will see each other in middle school and high school, maybe college. I pictured them in business meetings together. Maybe Kate will become a teacher and she will have this girl's kids in her class. Maybe their kids will be the same ages. That's a lot of "maybes".

And I got to thinking how small the world is. Kate had a teacher this year who used to teach at an elementary school in central Wisconsin just blocks away from a law firm where I worked for ten years. I wondered if we had ever crossed paths before never knowing that one day she would be my daughter's teacher.

And I wonder how fast the next decade will pass by. I discussed it all with Kate after the game tonight. She just wants the opportunity to strike the other girl out this season - turnabout being fair play and all. I guess you don't think too far ahead when you are young.