It was close BUT

That probably happens toooooo often!!!

It was a day that could cause one to question if tennis is the right sport to be playing.  On the 70+ team yesterday I played court 3 with Charlie.  We won the first 3 sets and then it was pretty even the rest of the way.  We won set one, tied 6-6 set two and then went on to lose the set and match tie breaker.  I will start out by saying my game was not perfect BUT Charlie just had a bad bad day.  I did not count but I am guessing he had at least a half dozen high balls that were perfect for a "put away shot" and he hit it into the net!  He double faulted on one game point and THEN with our lead at 6-5 he was serving and had a put away shot for the match and blew it!!!  I have no further comment as I have had bad days as well.  Nobody felt worse than he.  For the most part the guys we played against were fun.  Nice guys and good also.  BUT we had one situation that was interesting.  They hit a lob over my head and Charlie was out of position.  I looked back and saw it hit out by an inch or two and called it.  Charlie went over and looked at the mark and agreed.  As he did that he took his racquet and touched the clay when the ball hit.  One of the guys got really upset.  He accused Charlie of covering up the mark with his racquet.  I quietly told him that was not the case. I had to tell him 3 times before he would resume play at the urging of his partner.  I thought this is going to be interesting the rest of the match.  Amazing he just went back to his nice self in a minute or two!  End of story!

Another nice day and my team plays it's last home match today of the season.  We have one match next week, a team party the afternoon of the match and then league is history.  I have high hopes of winning at least 2 courts today but we will see.  We play a team that has won one court in every match which kind of says they have one good court and I am guessing it may be #1 where Ken and I are playing.  Could be interesting this afternoon.  I have the balls numbered, the drinks in the cooler and the lineup made out so I am ready to ramble!

Life stages---those college days 

The college days are spread out as were the high school days.  John started college in the fall of 88 and Cynthia graduated in the spring of 03.  Graduation took place in 92, 94, 96 and then 03.  

For John and Travis it was 4 years each in California except John spent a year in Germany and Travis spent half a hear in Washington DC.  Santa Clara was a beautiful place to spend time as John and Travis graduated from there.  Aaron and Cynthia each spent 4 years at Gustavus in St. Peter MN.  We made a few, not many, trips to CA for John and Travis while Aaron and Cynthia played soccer at Gustavus so there were MANY miles driven for that.  Some of the highlights and lowlights of the college years in no order:

• I would say that the fact that each of the kids graduated in 4 years was a big deal.  AND they all graduated from the school they first enrolled in.  I am not saying that was important but then again it made things easier than if they had changed from school to school.
• I have to mention that college days were full of paper work for each of the kids.  They all relied on financial help from the schools.  That meant filling out forms early in the year for each of them which meant filling out forms in eight different years and in 4 of those years there were 2 sets of papers to fill out!  
• One of the low lights was the fall John enrolled at Santa Clara.  He had flown out early to try out for the soccer team.  Several days later I got a call saying he had NOT made the team.  I do not know IF he should have made the team but I do know that EVERY person who made the team that fall was from CA.  Maybe or maybe not that says anything.
• Perhaps the most interesting financial thing was with Cynthia in her second year.  For some reason she received help for her second year and it was reduced by several thousand $$.  I looked at the papers and thought several $$ times 3 years will add up to a lot of money.  I made an appt with people at Gustavus and drove down there in early spring.  I thought about wearing old farm clothes to show how poor we were BUT not really.  I was able to get the $$ added back to her financial package and it stayed that way for the last 3 years.  
• Sports came into play in college as well.
• John and Travis biked at Santa Clara even though that was not a university sport it was a club sport and they competed against several other schools.  I made it out for one race which took place just after an earthquake.  More than once, as I was walking around, I felt the earth move! Both John and Travis were able to compete in the national college bike race John's senior year. I think it was in the Atlanta area.
• Cynthia and Aaron played soccer all 4 years.  There were good times and bad times.  Aaron was the co-captain his senior year and they should have had a good year but he came down with an injury and missed much of the season.  Likewise Cynthia was injured and missed much of her senior year.  BUT we made it to most of their games which included driving to Iowa and Wisconsin.
• I could add that in addition to college things during those years I was involved in coaching at Highland Park Junior where I taught.  So it was not unusual to have a game or practice at school and then head down to St. Peter for a college game as well.  
• I remember driving the pickup down to a game when Cynthia was playing at Gustavus.  I had one of my migraine headaches to the point that I used a coat for a pill and spent the drive home in the back of the pickup.  I think about that time some may have accused me of being not quit normal! 

The college days were perhaps some of the most busy times of my life.  I did not believe in making the kids my entire life so during that time I also served in a headship role in our Christian Community People of Praise and also did Servant Camp which usually meant 300+ campers and around a hundred staff.  IF I could live those days over I MAY change a few things but then it seems like God smiled on those times and indicated he was pleased with much of what was happening.

With Cynthia's college graduation in 2003 I did not know it at the time but my teaching days were kind of coming to a close in a few years.  I had in mind that I did not want to teach well into my 60s but rather, maybe, teach until I was 62 or so and then do things that I had never had time to do before.  Those ideas came crashing down in 2004 when Gail became sick.  The rest is a story to be told in another stage of life.