Somebody Stop Me

Ok, babygirl Pickle is home for the summer. And looking very grown-up since I last saw her three weeks ago. *sniff* She is, however, the same little Pickle with the sarcastic wit and droll humor. Yay.

We get back to the apartment, and decide to go out for dinner. A rare treat with the finances, but I've decided you have to do something once in awhile. Besides, I have to pick up my check from the restaurant/bar, and they do have good food. We chit-chat on the way over, talk about the job potential, how often we want to play tennis this summer to get her conditioned before it starts at school in August. We decide on 3 days a week. That works for me. I love it, but I'm old and fat, so I have to factor in the fall-on-the-ground-and-have-a-massive-heart-attack-or-stroke possibilities.

We finish supper, stellar chicken, btw, and head back into town to Wallyworld to grab *giggle* a bag of balls. She just rolls her eyes at me. But she laughs. *smile*

So a bag of balls, 2 water bottles, a 12-pak of vitamin water, and some Aleve later, we're headed out. We stop at the house, change clothes, grab the rackets, fill the water bottles, and we're on our way. She laughs at my headband - hey, I've had the "sweat roll into your eyes and sear them shut pain," and I am now old enough, I do not care. Besides, it's cute with my hair all up in a bouncy clippy and bangs strategically pulled out. (It's hard work being cute playing tennis!)

We get to the courts; there's a father and his 3 kids taking up two of them (the front ones.) So we head to the back courts and start warming up. It's about 20:45, sun is setting nicely, it's about 80 degrees. We have about 30-45 minutes of good warm-up, play, and cool-down time. Not too much, we agree we don't want to overdo it. I have a fickle knee, an ankle I've twice broken, and a hamstring issue from an old sex injury... don't ask. We settle on Tues/Thurs night and Sun mornings for our 3 days a week.

We're not really playing, playing. I have her serve all the time, because she starts out a bit weak, and can use the practice. By the end of the evening, though, she's got a good, strong serve coming across. As we warm up, we start the volleying back and forth, but it's not real strenuous. It's a good time, and we get some pretty good back and forth going on. I believe this is the year she'll beat me. She's got some good control moves, and if it doesn't run me across my court, she's skimming the net and dropping close. A little practice and coaching, and she'll be pretty good.

The guy and his kids leave, we play back and forth for about another 15 minutes and it's starting to get rather dark. I comment as to why the lights aren't on over the front courts. She bounces over there and says, "They will be in 3 minutes." Apparently the have a button that turns them on, but not before 8pm, and they go off after 1.5 hours or 11p, whichever comes first. Kinda cool.

Meanwhile, this fella shows up wielding a couple rackets. "You guys playin' in the dark?" I have my racket and water bottle in hand as we move to the front courts, and I say, "Only for a couple more minutes." Another guy rolls in and joins him as we're setting up. The lights start to hum and finally we have illumination. Great!

Yea, frickin' great. Helll-LLLOOO.... play for a short while the first time this season, so as not to maim yourself, or strain yourself. Remember????? But NNNNOOOOO.... we volley back and forth, laughing and trash-talking, for ANOTHER 45 MINUTES!!!! The fellas next to us are just a bad as they're warming up, and we chase each others' balls across our courts several times.

Finally, I run out of water, it's after 10pm and I tell her I have to be at work at 7, so it's time. We say goodnight, get in the jeep, and head home. We park out front of the building, and sit there for two minutes, because I am now locked into the sitting position. Fabulous. I open the door, stretch my legs, and pretty much fall out of the jeep.

In the door, round the corner and up the first 2 stairs. Cool. Only 14 more to go. Seven minutes later, we make it into the apartment. I beeline it to the shower, come out and settle on the couch. Ten minutes later I remember, I didn't take any Aleve. Arthritis runs in the family pretty badly; I feel twinges in my hips every now and then. I know if I don't take anything, I'll be hurting soon. Apparently, I didn't remember soon enough. Doesn't take long in A/C and I stiffen up like a... well, I stiffen up. ;)

I push myself off the couch, and waddle over in a semi-crouched position to the kitchen, grab a drink and take a couple. Hobble back over, lay down, and stretch my legs and hips for about 5 minutes. Next thing I remember, the alarm went off....

Feelin' pretty good this mornin'... good deal, 'coz we play again tonight... LOL...

Stop me.
Please.