A Glorious Day

Just a wonderful day. So dang'd happy about it, I thought I would say so.

Blogged the morning away. I was right. Trying to answer the
Vox Apologia question was really fun. I have no idea whether it is right or good, but zipping around the scriptures, and thinking about all the Lord did for us was just great.

Then I cleared the way to garden some day in the future. The distant future. The unwanted future. I'm sorry, but gardening is simply beyond me. I don't enjoy it much, and when I do try it the discouragement of seeing all those innocent plants die under my loving care tends to offset any slight joy that the labor might have brought. But, I like clearing stuff. If anyone thought bare patches of earth were cool, I'd be set!

Then....

Ah, then....

The air has warmed to a sultry 45+ degrees, and the sun was out, AND I have a new hitting partner. On the USTA scale from 1 - 7, I play tennis at a 3.5 - 4.0 level. That means I can make the ball go where I want, and make it go in when I hit it with all my strength. Nate is a 4.5 - 5.0 player. That means he can make the ball go where he wants when he hits it with all this strength. (5.0 - 6.0 means he can make the ball do things that are not physically possible when he hits it, and 7.0 means that he can make the ball put money in his bank account when he hits it.)

So, yes, for all my gibberish, I play tennis barely well enough to hang out at a club if I were willing to pay $32 an hour to knock that silly ball around.

Anyway, I played Nate 2 weeks ago and scored a perfectly respectable 1-6, 1-6 loss. I call that respectable because he said we would play again. That means I did not bore him! Wow! Totally pumped.

I could not beat myself up for losing so badly too him. I have NEVER had to return a serve like his, and probably only twice in my life have I ever tried to return a big topspin forehand like he hits. He just ate me up.

I cannot begin to describe how happy that makes me.

He threw away a lot of points, but when he put up a weak ball I was able to punish him for it. I was able to send back his solid hits, and I was able to scramble for his hard shots. It was the couple dozen winners that were new to me.

I guess it was enough to keep him taking my phone calls, because we hit again today.

And today I lost 6-7(3-7).

Before I go on to brag about what I did differently, he was wearing running shoes instead of tennis shoes, and was slightly hung over. Take those two factors away, and I probably don't push him to a tie-break today. But I learned a lot!

I learned to back up 12 feet for his serve. Sure I look like a girlie-man standing a dozen feet behind the baseline, but I returned probably 15 of his serves, and a couple of them convincingly. I also learned to really pick on his backhand. Backhand to backhand, I think I am nearly his equal. Forehand to forehand, I had better hit it to his backhand ;-)

If I had a dream, it would be to always play people I can almost beat.

Anyway, to finish the day I even managed to leave the courts in time to get home and get dinner on the table at 6:00 as promised, and it was good, too!

What's that, 4 successes? How often does that happen?!

Thank you, Lord.