RULE OF TONGUE

I wouldn’t call Ella a lacrosse player, but she does play lacrosse. She’s still working on the basics like cradling and catching, but I’ve noticed her eye is more Domestic Shorthair than Bengal. I remember one day at practice it was windy. Noticeably windy. The kind of windy where garbage ends up high in the trees. Lacrosse, of course, is very point of contact. The ball is small and direct. Short of a gale, the wind doesn’t really affect the game. So it was a typical practice and most of her teammates were working the goal at the far end of the field. Ella, on defense, didn’t have much to do. So she put her stick down, raised her arms, and leaned into the breeze like a gull. She was smiling, queen of the world. It was all very Titanic. Sure, that was a while ago, but she continues to maintain an easy casual presence on the field.

However, there was a game a couple weeks back where she caught the ball and ran it down the sideline before passing it to a teammate who then chucked it into the goal. It was very unexpected and had me up out of my camping chair. I watched with pride as the two girls met midfield and slapped sticks. Not quite Jordan and Pippen, but it felt… sporty.

Ella started playing because her friend started playing. It was something to do, something athletic. Exercise. But she’s a grade higher and last month the lacrosse people shuffled things around. Ella was moved to the 5th…