I have been blessed with some amazing friendships throughout my life. One of my longest standing friendships is with Jolene; we have been friends since we were in 6th grade... which is 20 years ago!
We always seem to have some crazy plan or idea... like the time we got creative making our own pencils: we took the soft leaded pencils and melted them into shapes, then danced around the back yard like pagans. I am sure my mom thought we were devil worshipers.
We played tennis in HS together, she was always a way better athlete than I, and had a much larger competitive appetite.
Our friendship has endured many storms; from arguing over the same boy to living hundreds of miles(and at times a half of a world) apart...
She moved back to town a few years ago and every summer since we have been all talk and no action about reliving the "glory days" -- playing doubles in the Taco Bell Open. This year we finally registered, which means we have been playing quite a bit of tennis- for us anyway. She convinced me to register us for the 3.5 division, then we ran into Fruita's coach who informed us that "there are some beasts in that division". Me always being the scardy cat, started to fret, while Jolene just laughed with her "bring it on" attitude.
Because most of our play has been against each other, we thought it wise to get in a few doubles matches before we actually go out and compete. Yesterday we played our old stomping ground's #2 doubles who will be seniors next year. It was a lot of fun playing on the same side of the ball, and it turns out we weren't too bad. We won the first set by the fuzz of the ball 6-6 with a tie breaker of 6-1. The second set we won quite decidedly 6-1... straigt sets!
The whole time we were playing it was like a time warp. That was us years ago, be it we were not quite so prim and proper as these two. The girls we played kept asking how long it has been since we have played seriously (not just hitting balls for fun)... it took us a minute to calculate...and when we did it was gut wrenching...14 years. I could hardly believe it has been that long.
We have plans to play doubles again before the tournament begins, and I have a bit of work to do (my first serves are horrendous... rarely going in), but it is so fun and nostalgic to be out on the courts with Jo.
Learned? A 14 year hiatus hasn't proved to wreak too much havoc on our tennis game, just hope we don't get slaughtered in a few weeks.
1 comment:
It's always fun to say, "We've still got it!" I hope summer is treating you well. We are planning on coming over Labor Day weekend. We should talk soon. What's the club that Madison plays soccer for?
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