Do Overs: We All Have ‘Em!

Do Overs. We all have them.

Some of them are simple “Whoopsie” moments, like forgetting to set the timer on the brownies I was baking for the swim team social, not realizing “someone” had put a disposable diaper into the pail before I washed the cloth diapers, and letting Nathan eat as much as he wanted at the O’Hana family style dinner. He found the Polynesian fare delicious, but it was…unpleasant the next day. Ahem.

One of my most recent “Whoopsie” moments happened at one of Sarah Kate’s softball games. As you know if you’ve been following the blog for at least a few months, Sarah Kate played softball this spring, and was a pretty consistent hitter. Unfortunately, because of her cerebral palsy, she’s a very slow runner (what she does can’t really even be called running), so she grounded out A LOT. At the beginning of the season, we talked up RBIs in a big way, knowing that the odds were that she’d hit a lot of girls in but never score a run.

We were wrong about that.

One night early in the season, Sarah Kate managed to make it to second base. It had happened before, so I didn’t get my hopes up. The grandfather of one her teammates said to me, “She’s gonna score one day soon,” to which I expressed my doubts. I didn’t doubt that it was possible she might score someday, I just didn’t consider it likely. I had my camera with me, as always, but I wasn’t geared up to shoot.

Before I knew it, she had advanced to third and was headed towards home plate. I scrambled up off my perch on the bleachers, DSLR in hand, shoving the lens up to a gap in the chain link, and snapped a quick shot of Sarah Kate crossing home. Both of her hands and the top of her head were cut off in the shot, as I’d had my telephoto lens on the camera to photograph her standing on second base. Fortunately, though, her foot was actually on home plate, so while the photo wasn’t the best, it captured what I wanted it to capture. I vowed to do better next time.

As the season went along, Sarah Kate got a little quicker at running, but the others girls got a lot better at fielding. Making it to first base got tougher, and advancing beyond first was a near impossibility. She was credited with two more runs during a local tournament, but both were scored by pinch runners brought in to replace her after two separate falls that caused her to have trouble standing. I still faithfully brought my camera to every game, but the odds of her scoring again were diminishing, and I knew that my chance to get another, better shot of her crossing home plate was disappearing along with it.

On the final night of the season (not including the tiebreaker), the Sky Rockets played a doubleheader to make up two games rained out earlier in the season. At her first at bat, she hit a single. The next batter stepped up to the plate, hit a single, and Sarah Kate advanced to second. It had been awhile since she’d made it past first base, so I pulled out my camera and got ready to shoot. In the unlikely event that she made it to third – or, miracle of miracles, home! – I was going to be ready this time. I flipped my camera on to check my settings and my heart sunk.

No card.

I had removed it to download a few pictures taken earlier, and forgot to put it back.

I scrambled through my camera bag, even though I was already sure I didn’t have an extra card in there (I had switched bags in a hurry earlier that day). Nothing. By this time, another batter had hit another single, advancing Sarah Kate to third base, and our spectators were buzzing with the possibility that Sarah Kate might have a chance to score. I looked around at them and heard the high-pitched wail of my voice.

Does anyone have an SD card I can borrow? Please!!!!!!

No one did. I pulled out my iPhone, nearly in tears at this point. I lept toward the fence and positioned my viewfinder over home plate. I knew I only had one shot – iPhones don’t shoot continuously by holding down the shutter, after all – and I didn’t want to miss it.

Sure enough, the next batter up made contact with the ball, and Sarah Kate began her long, slow slog toward home. I knew I would get a shot, but it would be nothing like The Shot that I wanted. I would have a permanent record of her achievement, but I knew that the quality would be poor and the focal length of the iPhone lens wouldn’t place the image close enough to portray the detail that I wanted (I would learn later that she also wasn’t actually crossing home in the photo – she was just past it).

I snapped the shot of her crossing home plate, and then pulled the iPhone down to watch her return to the dugout. Her helmet came forcefully off, and she never checked up, continuing her long, slow slog toward the dugout. The pride in her expression was priceless, and I agonized that I would never have a photo of that look. Her teammates all came racing out of the dugout to greet her with cheers and hugs, and I wished again that I was snapping away with my camera, capturing that moment for posterity.

I wanted a Do Over. Badly.

If I had the chance at a Do Over of that shot, I’d definitely take it, but I know that my Big Whoopsie gave me something else that made it (almost) worth it to miss The Shot. I realized that although I will always regret that I don’t have photographs of that moment, I will never regret the fact that I experienced the joy of that moment without a camera standing between me and the emotion of it all.

What’s your Do Over Moment?

This post was sponsored by Frigidaire. The Frigidaire Gallery™Dishwasher gets dishes fully cleaned the first time, so there are no dish do-overs. Nearly half of adults admit to re-washing and/or re-drying dishes after the dishwasher cycle has been completed. To prevent dishwasher do-overs, Frigidaire® is stepping in with its new Gallery® Dishwasher featuring the OrbitCleanTM Wash Arm, ensuring dishes are cleaned right the first time.

I was compensated for this post as a member of Clever Girls Collective. All the opinions expressed here are my own.