Summer meant one thing: non-stop softball. No more breaks, no more weekends off...yet it was living the dream.

1. The tan lines. Oh, the tan lines. Racerback tan lines especially. It was like the signature of softball players; we rocked the jersey tan lines instead of bikini lines.

2. The "strawberries" Those were a close second to the tan lines. Were you even a softball player if you didn't have constant bloody scrapes and bruises? It's a surprise they ever healed with a number of times they happened.

3. Those "I can't, I have softball" texts that were basically the only texts you sent all summer. Want to go to the beach or to the movies? Sorry I have practice Monday-Friday and a tournament 3 hours away all weekend. Every week. For the next few months. Try again when summer is over.

4. The endless supply of tournament t-shirts. Did I really need one for every tournament I went too? Probably not. But I begged my mom and dad for them anyways and now that is basically half of my closet to this day because I refuse to get rid of any of them.

5. The giant stockpile of ribbons in every color to match every jersey you owned. I mean, c'mon, if you were wearing your green and black jersey Friday, you needed your green and black ribbon. And then your green and white ribbon for Saturday. And extra just in case one gets destroyed while sliding home. But lets be honest, you were lucky if the white ribbons stayed white through an entire game, so you had to bring even more.

6. The 12+ hour days at the ball field. When you and your team decided to have to do international tie-breakers for every game because you weren't giving up even though you were in the 10th inning and tied 20-20. Those were the best ones of all, when you started at 7am and 5 games later you were waiting for the championship game to start at 8pm that night, which would be a double header even if you won because you had not lost a single game yet. Those were the glory days.

7. The memories that last a lifetime. I don't mean this in the chiche way. But one day, when you play your last game, you will realize the summers you spent playing ball were some of the best summers of your life. Those are the days you will look back on, telling stories and bragging about your run that won the game. And you will have the trophies, scars, and memories to prove it.