I hope you all had a great Memorial Day Weekend. Mine was crammed from start to finish with plenty of work and family time, but it was a tennis match that I loved the most.
Yesterday, after hosting a barbecue with my parents, my in-laws and my grandparents, I went to a local park with my wife and kids. My oldest son, Benjamin, wanted to play tennis. He’s been wanting to play for a while. We bought some cheap rackets at Target and he’s been dying to get out there.
Tiff played tennis in high school and has wanted to take him to the park to play for a while, but our schedule is pretty tight with Jack’s demands (if you’ve never been here, Jack is my 7-1/2-year-old son who battles severe autism) and it seems that every time we’ve had a chance to go, it’s been raining.
Finally, it was nice and sunny yesterday, so we headed down to the park, ready to play. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones with this idea, and both of the courts were occupied when we go there. Ben was upset, but stayed calm. He just sat there watching the two matches, waiting for a court to free up. He refused to play at the park — he was zoned in on tennis, and nothing would get in the way of that.
Tiff and I played with Jack and Ava on the playground there while Ben vultured for a court. Finally, after 30 minutes, we got it. We all played perhaps the worst tennis ever played on this planet, but I enjoyed it more than anything.
Ben … well, he’s probably not going to make it to Wimbledon. But he doesn’t care. Ava is only 5, so it’s difficult for her to play against her older brother. Jack, well, he was oblivious to the game. He was having fun doing his own thing, which was running around the court in the middle of the game, throwing a toy phone up in the air as high as he could and doing the same thing with a tennis ball.
He’s been having issues lately with banging his head for sensory purposes. He was taking a tennis ball and throwing it off his forehead so it would ricochet, giving him his sensory fill. If I stepped outside my shoes to look at the scene we were causing, I would have been witnessing a three-ring circus. But this time, I didn’t really care.
All five of us were having fun in the same place at the same time. That never happens. So for 30 minutes, I didn’t care what anybody thought. Well, except for my wife and kids. We were all happy and having a great time together. I couldn’t ask for anything more!
** NOTE: I played Tiff in tennis and I beat her. I think everybody needs to know.
Sally says
Your wife and kids are the only ones that mattered in regards to your ‘three ring circus’ so good for you for enjoying the moment and not caring what anyone else thought! Hope you are blessed with more of these kinds of moments 🙂
Alicia says
Shame on you for bragging about beating your wife. I, too, played tennis in high school and I am extremely competitive with my husband who can easily beat me but it makes me crazy! :I Haha.
Glad you had a nice day out on the court! Gotta love family time.