A Realization

We threw our bags in the trunk, and I stuck the key in the ignition of a rented Ford Focus. 

 

Tyler was in the passenger seat. Chris and Amanda were in the back. 

 

I had chased that dream I was telling you about. The Michigan softball team had chased its own dream, too. 

 

And now we had a 1,006-mile, overnight drive ahead of us. Our final destination?

 

Oklahoma City, the site of the Women’s College World Series.

 

We always knew the drive was a possibility.

 

I had enrolled in Spring Term so I could stick around to cover the team through the postseason. I had a Stats final waiting for me when I got back. I had a paper due, too. 

 

But I didn’t care. Not about the drive, or the final, or the paper. 

 

I was just ready to cover the biggest event of my life to that point, which of course, we eventually did. 

 

The softball team made it to the championship before losing the three-game series to Florida. The rest of the beat and I spent a week exploring a city we’d never imagined visiting in our lifetime. 

 

Then we got back in the car, and began the journey back to Ann Arbor. 

 

I hadn’t cracked a book for that Stats final. I hadn’t started the paper, either. 

 

But as each passing mile pushed me closer to the reality of my responsibilities, I wondered if I even cared about them. In part, I think it's because I cared more about the work I'd just done, and the place I was doing it for.

 

I knew then, I was in love.