Black eyes

Last Saturday I went to my first softball practice of the season. Everyone took their places and we started with some batting practice. I ran out to left field while one of the other guys grabbed a bat and took his place at home plate. A few hits later he hit a fly ball my direction. I saw it rise into the air and figured I was pretty close to where I needed to be, but the ball then disappeared into the sun. I waited for a couple seconds for the ball to come out of the sun. Then I had the thought that I should probably either duck, move, or put my mitt up. Before I had a chance to do any of those, I saw the ball.....for a split second before it smashed into my face.

I remember dropping to the ground and immediately rolling over onto my knees wondering if my sunglasses were shattered (I know it's stupid, but that's what I thought!). I knelt there feeling nothing but the excruciating pain in my face. Slowly my different senses started coming back to me. First came my hearing - I heard my team mates rushing up and asking if I was alright, I heard my response back to them, "My GOSH that HURTS!" Then came my sense of touch - I felt the grass under my hands, the blood dripping down my face, the tears streaming from my eyes. Then I realized that my eyes were clenched shut. Slowly my thoughts worked through the pain and I forced my eyes open. Strangely, once my eyes were open the pain diminished considerably. I was able to then lean my head back and apply pressure on my bleeding nose. That didn't hurt very much, so I figured it wasn't broken (praise the Lord!)

After getting to my feet, I walked to the side of the field and waited for the blood to stop. No one had any towels, ice, pain killers or anything, so I cleaned myself up as best as I could using my sunglasses as a mirror and my saliva as a cleaning agent. About 10 minutes later the bleeding had stopped, and I was feeling pretty good. I headed back onto the field, and since the other positions were all taken, I ended up back in left field. Wouldn't you know it, there immediately came another pop fly my direction. I watched it get lost in the sun, and waited a second for it to come out. As soon as I realized it was going to stay in the sun, I took off running for the fence muttering, "I'm not doing THAT again!"

The rest of practice was largely uneventful after that. I caught other fly balls, batted relatively well, and played first base. When Rachel picked me up, it was a few minutes before she noticed the dried blood on my nose. Frantically, she asked what had happened, and after I explained, she retorted, "Where was your mitt?!?"

Over the next couple of days, the black eyes started appearing. I have a bruise between my eyebrows, but it sure looks a whole lot worse than that!

I am very grateful that God protected me from further injury. An inch higher likely would have resulted in a concussion, an inch to the left or right probably would have caused eye damage, and if I had been hit an inch lower, my nose would have been broken. God is good!