Tremendous Tennis Tom-Foolery

Tonight was the first night in a while that I got to sit and relax while eating dinner in my own home. It was difficult to pry my cheesy risotto and meatball stuffed self off of my couch to go to tennis, but I somehow managed.

Tonight at tennis, two extra women joined us. These two very tall Brazilians are surgeons at the Mayo. At first wary of them (since they came in late in the game and they seemed with-it and I worried they would judge my uncoordinated efforts), I soon relaxed.

One of them insisted that she only played once or twice when she was 13, so they put her in our group where she dominated. It was ridiculous. She could return almost anything with grace and form, and she had an incredible accuracy rate. I was almost ashamed to take my turn at the net. It came out later that she forgot that she might have taken some sort of tennis lessons one summer more recently. That explains it.

The other surgeon was hilarious. She was giving it her all, but that darn tennis ball just would not land on the blue side of our court on the other side of the net. She ended up doing a lot of squealing, swearing, and flailing about, and as someone who usually (I imagine, anyway) looks like a flailer while attempting any sort of sport, I appreciated that.

I myself was a bit squirrely having been away from my students the majority of the last week. Sitting in meetings and conferences is very draining.  Plus, I just miss my kiddos!

Tennis Instructor Mark kept telling us to settle down and not be so rambunctious because we were going to get in trouble. He said it with a smile on his face or while laughing at us, though, so none of us took him seriously. I do feel a little bad for the advanced group on the other side since we were laughing, teasing each other, and running around. Then there was the occasional squeal or screech from our side of the court, sometimes followed by a stray ball flying over the divider and landing on their side.

I'm glad we work with Tennis Instructor Mark, though, because I doubt the other guy would put up with our ineptitude and tom-foolery. In my opinion, however, we look like we're having way more fun than the other side of the court, even if they are playing the game of tennis "correctly".