"We got that attitude!"

For everyone in the world (well, maybe not everyone), it was just another Thursday. For me, it was moving day at work and an optional practice day at softball...that was, until I woke up.

As I stirred to the incessant beeping of my alarm clock, my phone rang with a text message from one of my girls: "Don't worry about the email I sent you, it's nothing. I'm over it." Dear god, I thought to myself sarcastically, today's going to be a good day.

Though the email, which I'll skip on the majority of the details, wasn't a happy one, it definitely brought a smile to my face. Even a few tears. "Why do you care?" it asked me. "Why do you try and help out an angsty 16-year-old...or 10 of them for that matter?"

"Why?" I wondered over and over again as I showered, dressed, made my lunch and left for work. "Why, indeed!?"

The email came from one of the girls on the team to whom I'm closest. And as I made my way to work, it hit me. In fact, as I said "hey," "thanks" and "have a great day" to the expressway's toll attendant, it hit me: "This is exactly why." Because an email came in to me in the middle of the night (I won't say when), from someone who cared enough to think about why I cared.

Okay, I know that reasoning was a bit weird, but I'm not a morning person. And, to put it in an adult perspective, it's like your husband/wife rolling over in the morning and asking, "Why are you still with me?" ...Not really cool, right?

But, really, it means that someone's thinking about you. That they're -- on some level -- appreciating what you do.

Now, I don't do what I do for the compliments, awards, trophies or appreciation. I do it because I love it; but I wouldn't love it so much, I think, if it didn't mean something...if I wasn't actually helping an angsty 16-year-old or two. It wasn't so long ago that I was that angsty 16-year-old, and I know this sounds cocky but I wish I had someone like "me" around to help me out.

In college, when we read "Alice in Wonderland" we talked about why Lewis Carroll wrote the book. The story I heard was that he just wanted to write something he'd like to read. That's the way I'd like to live, and coach. It's like the golden rule. I'd want someone to be positive, someone to be there for me, someone to pick me up when I'm down; so, that's what I do. The fact that I'm actually doing that makes my whole week.

Really, any time I get to see those girls it makes my week. They've always got a story, even if it's just about what they ate for lunch, and it's always such a different perspective on life. It's those moments when I realize that my life up to that point is minimal. Sure, I love and give my all to work. Sure, I love and give my all to my friends and family. But seeing those girls smile, succeed and grow into women is what really makes my heart tick. Sometimes I wonder how I got by all this time without that.

So, you know what? "[I] don't care what you may say, [I've] got that attitude. Don't care what you may do, [I've] got that attitude. [I've] got that PMA!" Bring on the bad emails, bring on the emo. Bring on the angst and the drama. Bring it, I'm here to stay...whether or not you like it. Because I like it. Because I've got that Postive Mental Attitude.