All because of a stop light..

I worked at the car wash this past weekend.  It's always good to see some of the regular customers, work with some of my favorite guys, and make a little money.  None of these things are what stand out about this day.  As, I left work that day I got stopped at the red light right in front of the wash.  As I was pulling up I noticed that the vehicle next to me had a "RAGE Fastpitch Softball" sticker on the back of the window.  I then noticed several heads in the vehicle(more than legally acceptable).  This caused me to smile.  I was automatically taken back to my days of tournament softball.  I played tournament ball all when I was younger.  The reason it caused me to smile is because I remember in between games carefully calculating how much time we had to get in a car, quickly go eat, and be back in time to get warmed up before our next game.  I knew that the reason there were too many kids in this car was because EVERY person wanted to ride in the same vehicle because they just might miss something if they got in different vehicles.  You carefully learn who can fit where and who will be seated on someone else's lap.  Kassie Cowart always got a top spot.  :)  Lauren always got the place with the most leg room.  I smiled at this car next to me, and I could tell they were ALL looking at me.  The next thing I know, all the windows get rolled down and all the girls(minus the poor soul they set up) and the mother driving, began waving their hands in front of their noses and claiming this girl farted.  The poor girl is laughing and yelling, "I DID NOT FART!  PLEASE DON'T LISTEN TO THEM!  I DID NOT FART!"  I laughed uncontrollably.  The light turned green and we both drove on.  You can always get into some good clean mischief when piling in a vehicle.  Whether it is waving at cute guys, getting an 18 wheeler to honk, or pulling a prank on someone inside the vehicle, laughter is ALWAYS involved in these rides.  I thought about my Xpress days, the whole way home.  The friends I made their and their families.  We were all just an extension of each others families.  I played ball with most of these girls my whole life.  We played with the same people year after year.  When we yelled "Mom(or dad) I need a drink!"  Usually you ended up with 5 because every parent that heard the call got you one.  Mommas washed different daughters uniforms.  Daddys carried the hurt girl off the field, even if it wasn't his.  Poor Tina bandaged more wounds than we could count.  If you didn't have money, it didn't matter, someone would take care of it.  We laughed, cried, and played with all our hearts together.  Our poor parents sat in sweltering hot, for miserably long hours to let us do what we loved(and they loved too!)  High school was an extension of this.  BUT nothing compares to my memories of long weekends at Heritage, or Boaz, or wherever we were that weekend.  Looking back on it, that was a proof of love to me.  My parents didn't care what it cost or how long they had to drive or how tired they were.  They just wanted me to enjoy what I loved.  All our parents did.  I have drifted FAR apart from some of these girls.  Some of these girls I still see or talk to often.  I still see their parents and grandparents.  There is no doubt in my mind that there is still a whole lot of love between us all.  The memories are there to make sure we don't forget those people who meant so much to us at one time in our lives.  One day I hope those young girls I passed look back on those fond memories they were making(but didn't know they were).