Making

Betsy got selected for Great Britain again!!! We got the email at around five, and she burst into tears. Her friend Michelle was on the phone within minutes, she's selected too. Sadly her close friend Eloise didn't make it which is really sad. Betsy is very fond of her.

Before this happened, Betsy went for another double-header at the Scrubs, and Al and I had a lovely day just the two of us.

After lunch, we took Charlie for a lovely long walk. When we got back we started work on Al's shirt. Al loves to make stuff, and we were looking for a longer project, something to make together that didn't just take an afternoon, and I thought of a shirt.

Al chose this great material, blue with red roses, chains and skulls, and today he cut it out, pinned it, and made the collar, and sewed the shoulders, side seams and the collar on. Next we will have to add the sleeves (difficult), the pocket (should be ok), the hem (easy), the button holes (really hard but you use a very cool clever thing on the sewing machine) and finally the buttons (easy but boring so I expect I will have to do that bit). I think it's going to look pretty cool.

Just after Betsy and Chris got back we got the email about GB. I'm so pleased for Betsy (I got a little tearful too). She has worked so hard, loves the game so much and plays her heart out every single time. I'm so glad she will get to play in the last U13 she will be eligible for. This started when she was ten, and softball has shaped her life and made an indelible impression on her. The game, the girls, the team,the coaches, the hundreds of experiences associated with it all; winning, losing, improving, learning to train, to work hard, to deal with setbacks, to pick yourself up when the game isn't going your way, to be brave, to face your fears, plus the support network the girls create for themselves, the passion and exhilaration and esprit de corps you get from playing a game you absolutely love with people who absolutely love it too. Its a beautiful thing to watch.

When Betsy is on base waiting for the moment to run hell-for-leather to the next base, she rocks backwards and forwards on her heels in a very specific way, her arms moving rhythmically in time. Today she told me that when she is doing it she also recites Calaban's 'Be not afeared, the isle is full of noises' speech from The Tempest in her head. She says it calms her down. She said she also does it when she goes up to bat. If that doesn't work, she said, I recite Puck's 'If we shadow's have offended, Think but this, and all is mended...' speech from A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Good God.