Sunday, March 20, 2011

Peer Pressure



I haven't gone missing or anything. I, uh, have been playing tennis.

Tom has been trying for years to get me to play. And of course I resisted. Ain't no man gonna tell me what to do! 

Okay, no. That wasn't it at all. I just thought I was going to suck at it, and where's the fun in that?

But then... peer pressure. Yes, the insidious force that is peer pressure still holds sway, even over a forty-year-old. My friends made me do it! I'm like an After School Special here.

Except that it's exercise. Which is good for you. So, sometimes peer pressure is good?

Anyway, leaving the ethical quandary aside, for the last two months-ish, I've been putting on actual tennis shoes and hitting actual tennis balls -- with increasing success, even! People, I don't suck! It's totally fun! (Don't tell Tom I said so. He'll only gloat.)

Remember all that running I was going to do last summer? I even bought snazzy sneakers for it and all that? Well, being me, I couldn't just run for running's sake, so I only ran when I pushed Sarah in the jogging stroller to school and eventually -- you might even say inevitably -- messed up my back. Apparently the lesson there is not to multitask when you exercise.

But you gotta do something, right? So when one friend said she was going to start up lessons again, and my other friend said she'd do it if I would, what could I do?

I think I'm going to buy my very own racquet this week so I can stop using Tom's heavy old hand-me-down. I'm so stoked!

3 comments:

mommatosena said...

Tennis is a fun game and Sarah isn't too far off from being able to learn as well. Glad that you have decided to give it a try! Have fun getting a raquet!

rundeep said...

I started playing well after 40, in order to have something to play with my daughter, also a Sara (h-less) who'd been playing for several years by the time she was 10. Needless to say she was already too good for me, sadly complaining that I didn't understand topspin. So I dumped her and found friends. Seriously, learning to play was one of the best things I ever did. It's fun, it's exercise, it's social as heck, and you get better, which is quite satisfying. I now play on a club team (just to get more exposure), and I've met the nicest people. Live it up.

AG Ambroult said...

that is SO cool that you don't suck ;)

I have intensely unpleasant memories of playing tennis as a kid. flailing on a shade-less court in 90 degree weather just didn't do it for me. It's take some very strong arguments to get me on the court again. (I should say I did my fair share of drinking on tennis courts when I was a teenager, though, so I guess it isn't ALL bad memories)