It was the summer after my freshman year of high school. I was standing in the outfield playing summer ball with my high school teammates. I stood in center field with my glove ready, anxiously anticipating the ball to come my way. When playing outfield, there is often little action, so when there is action, I always wanted to execute my role. If I failed to make the catch, then it may be another fifteen minutes spent in the outfield until I had the opportunity to redeem myself.

So finally, after what seemed like forever, the batter made contact with the ball and it was coming my way. In my mind, this could be the only ball hit to me all night, so I was going to do everything I could to make the play. No matter where the ball was hit, if it was in my vicinity, I had the commitment of doing whatever it took to get the out. I prepared to move my body as I began to judge how far the ball would travel. Once I realized the ball would be going over my head, I began to run full speed. As I began running deeper into the outfield, I was nearing the fence of the softball diamond. But as everyone later realized, I was clearly unaware.

I saw the ball coming, and I had full determination to make the play. As I prepared for the ball to fall right into my glove, I reached out my arm to make the catch. However, it was an out of the park home run. I gave all my effort into making the catch, but the fence stopped me. I was laying on the ground with my back pounded into the grass. I opened my eyes to see the bright, sunny sky. After a moment of confusion, I realized I was laying in the grass because the fence threw me backwards from all my forward motion. My coach ran out to me to make sure I was okay, and as he approached, I came out of my daze. I got up and smiled as I could only laugh at myself as I came to the realization that I was taken down by the fence. My teammates laughed along with me as I felt some embarrassment. The other outfielders apologized for not giving me a warning, but I simply smiled and said don't worry about it because I'm perfectly fine.

My mom attended the game that night, so I knew my brothers would love hearing the details of how I managed to take myself out. They seemed to enjoy any material they could use to entertain themselves with the laughter aimed at me. They questioned how I could be so oblivious to the presence of our fence, but I could only remind them that no, we don't have a warning track like your baseball diamond. The grassed outfield runs all the way to the fence. My cover photo even has proof on this one.

My whole left side hit the fence with some force because at the time of contact, I was extending my left arm that held my glove. Thick blood oozed out of my left knee that night, and I'm left with reminder scars today that make me smile every time I see them and think back to this day.

It's a reminder of the opportunities I was given in high school. The town I could play for and the teammates I could play with. And the thought of me falling flat on my back from the forceful impact with the fence still has me laughing. But I think there is a bigger message that people can take away from experiences like this.

In life, sometimes you get knocked down. Sometimes you are planted deep into the ground and you are at a low that can't go any lower. But when you fall hard, you can get back up. Softball players all over are scraping knees as they dive into bases and make catches. And a few are running into fences, or maybe just the one I know of. But they get back up over and over again. So the next time life knocks you flat on your back, always know you can rise from your hardest blows and your deepest falls. Open your eyes, see the sunshine around you, and stand up with a smile on your face. You are going to fall sometimes. It may not be your fault and you may have people laughing, but learn forgiveness and be a part of the laughter. You will have challenges in the game of life, but it is all about how you overcome them.