It was Family Friday at school. My class had Technology first period so we were showing our parents out Scratch, a computer program, projects. 

I pick up my only pair of nice pants and begin to put them on. 

                                                                                                                                              

This soup was full of different shaped dumplings, sometimes chicken, and sometimes noodles.

And until quite recently I haven't had anything like it. I'm not saying she made it for me recently, it's just that I had soup that was really good but it just doesn't have the same nostalgia I guess. Anyways back to my great grandma, she wasn't someone i remember all that well even though i remember spending lots of weekends at her house. I do remember she was always smiling though but that's as far as I remember her. And i'm happy those were my last memories of her with us together.

           It was a hot summer day and my dad and I were driving up to Cooperstown. It is the baseball tournament our team has been training for all winter and spring. for a baseball tournament. It is a week-long tournament with 60 teams. 

            Before we arrive we go to a chick-fil-a and get spicy chicken sandwiches. 

           When we arrive, my dad and I go to our bunk and get our stuff situated. Then my teammates and I decided to go check out the fields. They were so nice, they were either turf or perfect dirt and well-cut grass. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we will begin lowering from our cruising altitude of 32,000 feet.”

Everyone sits in an accompanied solitude. You can’t feel the plane falling at rapid speeds but it is.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qa80YvNl2sMQg-RJOrHUYtCenOltqZAkxP9VFxRcCN8/edit

                                         ***

When I was younger. I often watched TV shows. My favorite one was called smurfs. Although I watched a lot of shows I was able to find an equilibrium between watching TV and being social. I had many friends and would often go to the park with my friends.

When I saw them in the park, when I saw them at the store, or at school. There was always a part of me that was jealous.

     

I stared up at my screen and watched as Carl Azuz described the recent findings about this new “coronavirus”. I had been hearing about it for weeks, but wasn’t sure what to think of it. I just sat there and sighed as the girl sitting in front of me pulled out a mini hand sanitizer dispenser, causing a mob of kids to gather around her, like pigeons in the park when you drop a piece of bread.

We make our way down into the train station. Then the reign of terror started. . . first one, then two, then three. One by one Steve started pantsing a bunch of people on the soccer team in the middle of the train station (there were adult strangers who saw and witnessed). Steve got me too almost, I grabbed my soccer shorts before Steve pulled them all the way down. The only ones who were not pantsed were me(sorta) Misha(Steve got him later), and Emmett. As we were getting onto the horrifyingly crowded train some of the 6th graders got lost in the other side of the car, they weren’t paying attention, what idiots. Me and Emmett sat next to each other while Misha and Jonah were playing their  online soccer drafting game. “You think we’re going to win?” I said to Emmett, “Hell no! Ok maybe, only because we’re way better than we were in 6th grade.” He told me. Misha and Jonah were starting to get loud on the train while playing that boring, wack game. “You and Jonah still playing that stupid game?” I said. Misha stared at me like my brain was leaking out of my ears and a second head was growing. “It's better than you.” he said back, “I’m better than you at soccer and FIFA and FIFA is way better than that boring game.” I shot back. “Yeah it is, but I don’t feel like playing it.” Misha mumbled. “Whatever.” I said then sat back down. Jonah was standing right in front of me as me and Emmett were sitting in the seats and his pants or soccer shorts or…. Whatever they were…. practically flew off. Steve had claimed another serial victim of his pantsing scheme. It was getting annoying now since it happened in the middle of the train ride, how inappropriate. Isaac, James, and Misha all started getting mad at Steve. Once we got to our stop, we made our way to the front exit and went downstairs to street level, holding our shorts in fear of steve pantsing us again but then he was holding his shorts as well, we wanted to get him back so bad and he knew we had it out for him, we had the motive and eventually the opportunity.

    Duh, obviously never going to happen. I’m not a fan of roller coasters so amusement parks, coaster central, are never fun for me. Plus there’s never anything to do. When our school announced the senior trip would be to Six Flags I was a little disappointed, but also, Six Flags is hugely popular, it was my senior trip, and everyone else was eager; so I inevitably caught the excitement bug

“You ready Buddy!” my dad asks me.

“Yeah but I’m a little nervous,” I reply.

  After we had a season with a record of 11 wins and 1 loss, I’m feeling good. Last week we beat a team that beat us in the play-offs a previous season. I’m nervous in the car on the way there with my dad. We’re facing our rivals, the Trotters, in the championship game, it couldn’t be any better. We beat them in the first game of the season. Our rival's coach said something to my Dad, “your team needs some more practice”. We barely even lost that game. We haven’t lost to them since then, but this would be the perfect time for them to back up their talk. Warming up I'm nervous because I know I'm pitching later in the game. I warm up my arm with my teammate and best friend on the team, Derrick. He’s also my catcher. After a few minutes we sit down and wait for the game to start. We’re the home team so we run out to the field and wait to start as our pitcher throws a few pitches. “BALLS IN COMING DOWN!” Derrick yells. The game starts. First inning goes by quickly with no score. The Trotters 3rd Base coach was drinking some sort of alcohol and the ump tells him to put it away when he sees it. He replies in a frustrated way but the Trotters head coach tells him to stop arguing so he doesn't get thrown out. He was standing behind the plate telling the players on his team when to swing and when not to swing. The Assistant coach of our team, Coach Patrick, talks to the Umpire to try and get him to stop.  When the ump looks back to tell him to stop he sees him drinking again and gets annoyed.

My first two innings go by with me only giving up 1 run. Then I finally got out there for the last inning. I’m feeling good mentally but my arm isn’t. I’ve been throwing my arm out trying to pitch the best I could, and I’m feeling it in my elbow. First batter steps up to bat. The nerves start to kick in. I realize it’s the last inning of our whole season, they were the home team so they hit last. If they score 4 runs,  they win the game and the season. I need to stop them. It’s all up to me. If we lose, it’s on, me. “BALL 4 TAKE YOUR BASE!” the umpire yells. I clench up a bit. I’m getting more nervous and I’m not thinking straight and the next thing I hear is, “BALL 4 TAKE YOUR BASE!”. The ump says again. “Come on Lincoln, throw a strike” I thought to myself, getting more and more nervous. “BALL 4 TAKE YOUR BASE!” the umpire says for a third time. I almost started crying. I go to get back on the mound when I hear, “Time please”. I turn my head to see Derek holding his hands up to the Umpire signaling he’s calling a time out. He gets up and runs out to me on the mound.

“What’s going on?” Derek asked, confused about my random pitching slump.

“ I don’t know what is happening, I just can’t throw a strike”. I reply in an annoyed voice.

“You’re in your head. Stop thinking so much, just do what you are good at, throwing strikes.” He replies.

There was a moment of silence until I nodded my head. “ You got this, just throw some strikes to get us out of here.” he says before he goes back to the plate and gets in his catching stance.  I take a breath and I don’t pitch for a few seconds. Bases are loaded,”Strike!” the ump yells, I feel a little better. Derek sets up for the outside corner. “Strike 2!” the ump yells. I feel calm, I take a breath. “Strike 3 you’re out!”. The 2 people sitting on our team and the fielder behind him all loosen up a bit. The next batter comes up, it’s their best hitter. I pitch the ball, *CRACK* He hits the ball straight up. “I GOT IT” I scream waving my hands telling my team to back off. I catch the ball. 2 outs. My team cheers again but louder this time. 2 outs, championship game, bases loaded. It doesn’t get much better and nerve racking than this. ,”Strike!” the ump yells. The whole team has a slight smile now. “Strike!” the ump yells again. My heart is pounding, Derek tells me to take a breath, my dad does too from the bench. I close my eyes for a second, but it feels like more. We’ve wanted this for so long, so many tough losses where we should have won. I’ve always been the captain of the team, sadly I never got the stereotypical coaches son treatment. My dad made me lead the team. If I messed around he would always give me the message, “You need to be good, because if you mess around that lets everyone think they can as well”. The team always asked me things like what to do, where to go, for tips, because they relied on me. Now, they relied on me to win the game, and I can’t let them down. I take a deep breath. I throw the ball,  “Strike 3 you’re out!”. “YEAAAAHHHH” I scream in excitement.

Derek and I meet in the middle of the mound and home plate and have a big hug. I look back to see my team throwing their hats and gloves in the air. All running over to me and Derek. We’re all hugging and jumping up and down. My dad runs out of the dugout. We meet at home plate and have a long hug. After we calm down a bit, we get into a semi-circle surrounding my dad. He gives a speech for every player then gives them their champion hat. He gives my speech last as he has every year of us playing. I couldn’t feel any happier at this moment, I felt like I just won the World Series. We get ice cream on the way home. I go to sleep excited to show off my hat at school tomorrow.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/123uOALWyGpc7xHRt9a1iHiMAi8Z56Zu74ctxnxTcCRs/edit

“Woah so exciting”, you say, but this was no ordinary baseball cap. I wore this baseball cap for about three years. The majority of my elementary school experience, I had this baseball cap by my side. Well, on my head, but you get the idea.

I stared at the question for not even a millisecond to know my answer.  My brain automatically went to that night. For most people when they hear why that night was so important to me, it might seem so random and not as life-changing as people would think