derby babies make my world go round

This Saturday, I attended my first derby bout since Beast of the East. My team wasn't playing and I hadn't originally had much intention of going to the bout. But when my teammate Ashley Thudd mentioned that she would be boutcasting and would thus require someone to entertain her 1 year old, I was lured in by the sweet seduction of the derby baby.

Babysitting at a bout seemed like the perfect way to get over my fear of going back to into the derby scene. It was a nice way to wet my feet in the derby pond instead of just jumping right back in head first.

Maybe people were happy to see me and everyone was welcoming. I helped out at the door for a while because a few people showed up late for their shifts. And when the bout began, the boutcasting mama left me with baby Tess and my adventures in derby babysitting began. Tess and I walked outside for a bit, said hi to many other derby girls, we played the "up the stairs down the stairs" game, I'd ask her where she wanted to go and then she'd point us in the right direction, she'd clap when everyone else would clap, and when she got to missing her mommy at one point, Steph D and I sang her the wheels on the bus song. All in all I'd say it was a delightful evening.

And now, I feel ready. Ready to be involved. Maybe not committed to the point where I reschedule my entire life around derby games. But whenever I can, I'll be at the bouts. And I'm giving myself to the end of this month to start going to ref practices. I'm itching to skate. And I'm feeling so good about my head and derby and so comfortable with my retirement at the moment that if I weren't going to see Les Miserables tomorrow evening, I would go to practice and strap on my skates. Hopefully, I'll still be this positive next week.

Thanks Tess for making this easy on me :)