Today's Show N Tell

I loved Show-n-Tell when I was kid and you know what, that hasn't changed about me in the slightest, ask anyone who knows me!  So with that in mind today I have a Show-n-tell that I am going to give as a gift tonight but wanted to share it first.

Some ideas take a long time to get to fruition.  A lot of times I write them down on whatever I can find, other times they materialize in stages.  This piece is one of those pieces that came about in stages.  The first being the irony of the game named Softball.  I'm not sure if I heard this as a little league player eons ago or if I made it up, which lets be honest... is highly unlikely as there is no such thing as original thought these days.  Either way the saying, original or not was, "Softball, there is nothing soft about it."  Then came the photo I wanted to use with it.  It had to be generic for me and with room for text.  This is the one I chose.

So I created this photo with a text layer with the intentions of putting it out there and then nothing for like two years.  It sat saved in a file in the back of my computer until however, the other day.  You see my daughter has a new batting coach and she's a spit fire named Dena and I really like this gal.  I loved Kennedy's previous batting coach as well, but this gal had played softball, not baseball and played college softball.

What impressed me, was what she told my daughter in a session just after she had been cut from a team and she was raw and stinging with self doubt.  "This is only a small moment in your life, don't let it get you down, pick yourself up and get stronger."  There was no bashing of the other person, tearing that person down to make her feel better.  Just good sound advice. Even though I had already given my daughter the speech of, "Not letting other's define who and what we are, but our opinion of ourselves is what counts the most." Dena added a new and fresh look on the situation and made Kennedy feel as if she could still hold her head up high and move forward.  I felt in that moment this woman was in the right place at the right time for my daughter and she was going to be just fine.  For that I am grateful.

So for me, gratitude is an action.  It inspired me to put this piece out there and I cannot wait to give it to her, for she of all people know the truth of this statement.  I have also decided to make others and sell it on my etsy site as I know there are a lot of girls and young women who feel the same.

(The wood itself was a cabinet face I bought at the Habitat for Humanity Restore store)