Isn’t perspective interesting? My weekend had me thinking a lot about perspective.

We spent the weekend at our daughter’s college softball tournament in Sioux Falls. I sat there and listened as we were up to bat, “Strike one!” announced the umpire. Our crowd hollers, “too low, not your pitch” and the crowd for the other team yells, “Atta way – perfect pitch.” There’s a close play at 2nd and our runner is safe; our crowd cheers, “Great hustle – way to get there.” And the opposing crowd yells, “She was out by a mile!”

It’s all about perspective.

We break for lunch at an outside café and the table next to us has their dog chained alongside them. He barks; they laugh, I’m irritated. Why do dog owners insist you love/tolerate their dog the same way they do? “Go ahead – you can pet him, he LOVES people!” Well just because they are all about stroking that flea invested canine coat and then grabbing their sandwich doesn’t mean that’s for me.

It’s all about perspective.

We’re back at the tournament and I’m quietly thinking about my daughter; worrying about her safety riding back to school, wondering if she’s happy with her college choice, and hoping she has made good friends. A friend with a daughter on another team explains one of their players has cancer and starts chemo in a few weeks. Suddenly I have no worries.

It’s all about perspective.

You know what else is all a matter of perspective? How others see us. To some women (including my daughters) I’m probably old! To some women, I’m young. To most men, I’m no head turner; to my husband, the only man that matters, I’m a hot babe. So whose perspective should matter when it comes to me?

Just mine.

The world tries to throw its standards at us, but all that matters is how we see ourselves. If we’re being honest, realistic, and striving to be the best we can be, our perspective and our opinion about ourselves is all that counts.

Of course, that’s just coming from my perspective. ;-)