What can I take away from this!!!

My tennis team went down to defeat on all 3 courts yesterday.  I need not write the scores as we did not come close to any wins BUT I do feel my players had fun, as much fun as one can have in defeat!  I put out an e-mail to the team this morning and put a positive spin on it.  It took some time!!!  Well I have been saying that this fall is spring training so with that in mind we will take our licks and keep on playing. The winter season, I am hoping it is a bit different.  Next week we play a team that defeated Breckenridge 3-0 (Breckenridge defeated us 3-0 yesterday) so I plan to put my best 6 players on the courts next week and hope for a fun time!  We play at the 3.0 level and next week we will be playing against some 3.5 players so bring them on and see what happens.  I THINK I read some place where tennis is a fun sport and I still agree!

We are in to the second to last day of record heat for a while.  Our next tennis match is Wednesday of next week and the temp is supposed to be 75, that is very different from the 90 yesterday.  No tennis today as it is good to have a day off.  It will be into the exercise room this morning and then tennis again tomorrow.

I have yet to start reading my next book.  Maybe today is the day.  I have been enjoying the warmer water in our pool now that the heater is working.  Not sure why but this old body really needs the water warmer than 80.  Back in the 50s things were different in MANY ways.

November 7th, 1964 (55 years ago)

I wake up, look at the clock which shows 7:30 and then bury my head in the lumpy pillow.  It is a Saturday and therefore no school and I believe no work as well.  As I lie in bed I feel my heart pounding a bit faster and louder than usual.  It has been a month now since Ronald died and life is still like living in a gray cloud.  It would be more usual to see Mom with tears than with a smile.  I have been hoping I would hear Dad laugh again but not yet.  Football, my favorite activity, is now part of my high school history and the end was not fun.  Basketball practice started and I know I will be a starter and perhaps one of the better players as I am co-captain.  I think back about being captain of the football team and look towards being co-captain of basketball and I just HOPE that the future will be better than the past.  Finally at about 8:00 I roll out of bed and get up the energy to see what is happening downstairs.  As I open the door to the kitchen Mom turns and with a neutral face asks if I would like pancakes for breakfast.  She said that Dad had stopped at the neighbors yesterday and purchased a quart of heavy cream so pancakes were on the menu for the day.  I reply with chokecherry syrup, yes.  I asked if Dad was up and she said he was sleeping in.  I noted in my mind that seemed to be the usual lately since Ronald died.  For a brief moment I allowed the thought to go through my mind that maybe in Dad's grief he had forgotten that there was Dave, John M and I still in his life.  I quickly dismissed that as I knew how much we ALL loved Ronald.  In fact I thought he would go on in life to be famous in some way but that was not to be.  I forced myself to refocus on Mom and breakfast.  I asked her if she knew if Dad was going any place today and she said Dad had mentioned he may drive to Lidgerwood and he had remembered that I had asked for the car tonight.  I had set up a date but I was not sure I wanted to go.  BUT perhaps it would erase, for a time, the gloom on the farm.  Then I made the mistake of the week.  I asked Mom if anybody would be coming home for Thanksgiving.  I wanted to know if Janet/John, Joan/Ron or Dave would be home and the reply was a flood of tears to the point I questioned if Mom's tears were diluting the pancake mix.  No, they did not.  After breakfast I wandered out to the shop just to pass the time.  From there I walked to the barn which had been empty for several years.  I thought about how I felt Dad should make use of the barn but really his interest was in hunting and photography and not in what he could do to make the farm more profitable.  I opened the barn door on the southwest corner of the barn and for a brief moment thought about Mom hanging a white towel on the barn door to let me know that it was time for lunch.  When I arrived home from the field I would go to the barn and bring the towel in.  I never did ask her if she then wiped the dishes!  Sometime later I heard the car start up and Dad drove out of the yard.  I just hoped he would be back by late afternoon.  Life does indeed change in the span of 55 years!