Soaring with Angels

Hello again, I just returned from the Angels game with my daughter, and light up the halo, it was a blowout for the home team who has had a season plagued with setbacks.  They are now two games up in the win/loss column and seven and a half games behind Texas - insurmountable odds most would say.

I disagree. Most teams - stick a fork in them, they're done - but these are the Angels, the comeback kids, Scioscia's boys, and the way they played tonight showed the never-quit heart they're famous for. Other teams might be counting them out, sports reporters might be counting them out, some of their fans might even be counting them out, but what's most important is that they're not counting themselves out.

And this is where I believe success lies - audaciousness - belief in oneself even against enormous odds. Because someone does win, someone does become Carrie Underwood, J.K. Rowlings, Kendry Morales - and their stories are amazing because of the audacity each of them had to believe that a country farmgirl, a welfare mom, a Cuban refugee, could become a superstar, a bestselling author, an all star baseball player - that a team seven and a half games behind the imperious Rangers can still win the pennant.

So, why am I telling you this? I'm telling you this because Grafeeti isn't my first venture - I've had a dozen others, a dozen other attempts to do something bigger than plodding forward in my daily routine. Some attempts have been moderately successful, others have failed, and so when Tami and I decided to dip our toes into entrepreneurialism again, I was tentative. My husband wondered, "Not again. What this time? How much is this going to cost?" And self doubt shadowed my enthusiasm and dampened the youthful audacity that drove me head on into my earlier ventures.

So tonight as I watched rookie Bobby Wilson, a catcher who was only in the lineup to relieve Jeff Mathis, hit two homers and drive in five runs to inch the Angels back into contention, and as I watched Hideki Matsui, a craggy veteran who's having his worst season ever, go four for four, I got inspired. I said to myself, "Who'd have thunk?" But that's the whole point.  No one would have thunk the old man and the young kid would come through, except for them, and in the end, that's all that really mattered. The only thing that counted was that they stepped to the plate and swung for the fences. 

I always tell my kids, "Shoot for the moon and you might just hit a star" and "You can't win if you don't play."  Mom rhetoric we all learn in Good Parenting 101. But why is that advice reserved for our youth? Why when a forty-something decides to become a rock star or an Olympian - or two moms decide to make a difference in the world with shoe accessories - does it seem kooky or indulgent? True, the odds become increasingly stacked against us as we get older, as success and stardom smiles brighter on youth, but is there any harm in stepping to the plate and taking a swing?

My life is blessed - I am an architect, an author, a mother and a wife. I live in a beautiful home, I am healthy, I have friends and family who love me. I don't need to do this. There is a greater chance of failure than success. I could end up embarrassed and having to explain my failure when people ask me about the shoe charm business I started a few years back.

But I've decided to step to the plate and take a swing. The climb is exhilarating, if we succeed, I will leave a deeper imprint in my wake, and although it needs a good dusting, my audaciousness still exists and is thrilled to be roused from a long hibernation. Perhaps my lasso won't capture the moon, but tonight on the wings of Angels I soared toward the stars, and for a moment believed, as I used to when I was a child, that anything, everything, anything is possible.