Tennis Lessons

This evening, my husband and I decided that it would be fun to go play tennis. My growing up years we would play tennis every day of the summer. I remember going to play tennis in the evenings with my parents. We would always go get ice cream afterwards. I loved every minute of it.

Naturally, I thought that my children would be the same. Well, let me tell you exactly how it all went down:

First, my husband had to go driving around to the neighbors that we knew to find an extra tennis racquet. We had 2 plus a racket ball racket that one of the kids could use. 20 minutes later, he had success. He stopped at the store to grab some balls. He came home to get me and we all headed to the tennis courts which are about 2.4 minutes away from our house. Once in the car the kids whined about what movie they wanted on in the car while dad sternly said "no" and mumbled under his breath that the TVs needed to be removed from the car. I agreed.

We got to the tennis courts that were quite full. We wanted to find a whole row of courts that were free so that we didn't disturb anyone because we knew that it would be messy. We found 2 courts together and settled for that. We got out of the car with everyone carrying their racquets and with their excited smiles on. Once on the court, my husband gave the kids some tips while I went to take the cover off of my racket. The zipper would not pull and I looked at the zipper more closely. The zipper had a greenish fur growing on it. It was actually corroded shut. I pulled the zipper seam and it came open with a puff of dust. I laughed out loud, "It really has been a while since we played tennis." 7 years to be exact.

By this time, my daughter started crying saying, "I can't do it" all while pulling away from my husband who was getting upset at her while she was flailing about. My husband gave up and grabbed his racquet to get it out of the cover. Guess what? His was corroded shut too. We laughed and I said, "I know how to get it open, just pull the seams." It did not work. My husband tried to pry it with his keys. At this point my kids were both crying in frustration. My son was actually down on the ground and my daughter was still flailing. I could tell that my husband was trying to use his aggravation to his advantage in trying to rip the vinyl cover. It probably would have felt good to him rip vinyl about now since the kids were getting more and more frustrated and cried louder and louder. I actually began to laugh out loud which didn't help I found.

My husband handed me the case because he needed to quiet down my daughter. At this point my son came running over to grab a ball, tripped over his sandal and landed on his head. He began to scream, I threw the racket and scooped him up. He had a big red goose egg in the middle of his forehead. I carried him to my husband who just didn't seem to have any words at that moment. I kissed my son's head and suggested that we go home. One thing about my husband is that he does not give up easily. What a guy.

So, I picked up my husband's racquet again and I suggested that my husband pull one side of the zipper as I pulled the other. So here we are with my children wailing and mommy and daddy playing tug of war with a tennis racquet. My husband had one leg back and both hands pulling one side while I was in a lunge position myself pulling at the other quarter inch of fabric. No luck. Finally after all our muscles were tensed and fatigued, I tried ripping the zipper with the keys. A slow but successful process. My husband was then able to spread the rip as he pulled with all his might...victory. The tennis racquet was free, the cover now trash.

We proceeded to try to give our kids some pointers with our racquets and each moment grew more frustrating for all of us. I ran to shag balls a lot. My son cried a lot. My husband tried not to yell a lot. After several minutes and with sunset approaching, the kids were instructed to sit on the side and watch. "I don't want to" echoed through the courts. "You can get balls for us," I said, "Mommy and daddy want to play now." The kids continued to cry while my husband and I tried to start playing. My husband took this time to tell me that a neighbor had offered to watch the kids while we played. But no. We decided on family fun!

The first ball went into the court next to us. Then the second. After the third apology to the players next to us I was just ready to call it quits. The man next to us actually said, "Don't worry about it." Followed by, much to my disbelief, "Your kids are so cute." Are you joking me?? I knew that he had to have witnessed the last 20 minutes of tears, tempers, trips and tug-of-wars. I replied sheepishly, "Thank you. This family time has not quite been what we had planned."

My husband and I did manage to get in a set. I lost miserably...mostly due to my errors, not his skill (kidding of course). I found myself a bit teary eyed as I remembered the fun playing tennis I had as a kid. Or maybe the tears came because my kids were hating what I so wanted them to enjoy.

We're home now and the kids are in bed. We survived but we have a new rule. The words, "I can't do it" and "It's too hard" are to be considered swear words. These words will result in mouths being washed out with soap. I told my kids "We can do all things through Christ" and "Nothing is impossible with God." Of course this doesn't mean that my kids will be champion tennis players or perfect at everything they try. But I am just finding more and more that my problems as an adult are rooted in the attitudes of "I can't do it" or "It's just too hard." My prayer for my family is that we all live life through the power of the spirit not relying on the flesh. Our lives apart from Christ are like the disheveled tennis match we experienced tonight as a family. Something rings true about weeping and gnashing of teeth!

So many lessons are found in our night of fun. I could go on and on. But I think tonight I will leave my soap box and go spend some MORE quality time with my husband. I was reminded tonight of times earlier in our marriage on the tennis courts. I was reminded of how much I love my husband. Thank you Lord tonight for my family. I truly consider myself blessed. It took a man outside my chaos tonight to remind my that I have precious kids. Even when I have to kind of look beyond the tantrums to see it!