The Ballpark

There is a ballpark here in Tiny Village, and in the summer there are softball games there several nights a week. When Daughter was younger, she'd go hang out over there some evenings. Any kid who retrieved a ball from the corn (or bean) field beyond the outfield fence got a free bag of popcorn from the concession stand. That made it a very popular place for the kids to hang out. Once she became diabetic, the popcorn became problematic and she lost interest.

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This summer she realized that those men's teams now include some of her high school classmates. Suddenly she likes hanging out at the ballpark again. So yesterday evening she rushed through her chores so she could get over to the ballpark. She told me she had her cell phone so she could text me when she was coming home.

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Her bedtime has always been 9:00, so at 8:55 I sent her a text: "Time to come home." She didn't respond and didn't show up, which surprised me. It had been delivered. I looked outside and it was getting dark. I looked over in the direction of the ballpark and realized the lights weren't on. So a little after 9:00, I sent a second text message: "Now!" Again there was no response and she didn't appear. I was trying to remember how to do locate on her when she came storming up the steps, furious with me.

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When she finally calmed down, I pointed out that I hadn't yelled or gotten angry, and she was the one who had ignored my texts and stayed out beyond her bedtime. I told her she wanted more freedom, which was fine, but she seemed to be saying by her actions that she wasn't ready to handle it. I was surprised when she agreed with that. She had been hanging with friends from high school, and she wanted to have the freedom of a 23 year old. We talked about the responsibility that came with the freedom, and how she wasn't doing so well with that. Finally she told me that yesterday's games were the last of the season. In other words, she didn't care if she got in trouble and I didn't let her go back to the ballpark-- the season was over.

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This morning she's wondering if it's too late to say she doesn't want to go back to the workshop. I told her that was why she was starting with one day a week, because we knew she might change her mind.....