Dearest Readers,
We are coming to a pivotal yet often seemingly uneventful time in little Allison’s growing up. These are The Softball Years. Beginning with the spring season you have been reading about over the past several posts, I enter a very seriously sport-oriented phase that lasts through my junior year in high school. Although I began playing softball at five years old, my participation in this sport stood as a central–if not the central–factor in my life from the age of twelve to seventeen-years-old.
Playing softball, although I have and continue to some degree to look at this period as a very minor part of my life as a whole, undoubtedly had a great influence on the girl I was then and the young woman I am today. Between the friendships created; the personal values solidified and lessons learned; and the countless number of influential moments, both positive and negative, tied to softball, it is impossible for me to deny as an adult how deeply The Softball Years affected my life as a whole.
Unfortunately I find many of the entries during this time to be boring and repetitive. “We won today!”, “We lost today :(“, “I hit a grand slam!”, “I hate my life because softball stresses me the fuck out,” etc. etc. Playing softball and being exceptionally good at softball became a curse through my years in middle and high school, and eventually I felt quitting the sport completely just before my senior year season, where I was expected to serve as captain, pitcher, and overall most valuable player for the fourth–yes, fourth–year in a row at Thayer Academy, was my only option if my sanity and sense of enjoyment were to stay in tact as I finished high school.
My thought is that these entries, although transcribing them and reflecting on these times gives my stomach the slightest twist today, are just as valuable as any other to this documentation process. Of course I want to publicly embarrass myself with past confessions of obsessive “love” and mentions of all the delicious food shoved down my plump little throat; but I’m not publicizing my journals solely to talk about Allison’s views on boys and love of food. I set out on this project to entertain others and to gain better perspective on what has made me me.
With that, after much deliberation, I will continue to transcribe my entries in chronological order as they are. No skipping around, no picking and choosing quotes. I believe what is written and kept is what’s meant to be shared, and I will continue to share it despite my own cravings for the incessantly crush-motivated musings of my days in the classroom. Allison will be Allison–the boys are coming.
As always, happy reading.
Lots of Love,
Ali
Allison's Private Journal 