April 22nd -- When I was growing up, my childhood dream was to become a professional tennis player. I would spend hours and hours practicing with the Tretorn tennis trainer, slamming the ball in my parents' driveway, and dreaming all the while about meeting Chrissy Evert.
But when I played the game, the place where I always panicked was when we were tied 6 all in games and had to play a "sudden death." It always gave me the chills. And I would inevitably choke. Seriously. It didn't happen a lot but my record on wins in sudden death was slim to none.
I don't play tennis anymore or if I do, we certainly don't keep score. It's all I can do to keep the ball moving back and forth across the net. But the expression still haunts me. Maybe because I am getting older and more and more people I know are actually dying, a sudden death. Most recently, I discovered that the wife of a sweet guidance counselor at my school, died suddenly without any warning, this past Tuesday. I am totally shocked. It's really unbelievable. She was only 61 years old. Al and his wife were busy preparing for their daughter's wedding. I just talked to him about it last week. In fact, one of the last things I did before I left for vacation was to talk to Al. We set up a meeting for this coming Monday at 11am to update the other guidance counselors about the Independent Study I am doing with some juniors.
When I read Ann's obituary, I was horrified to see that the funeral is scheduled for this Monday... at 11am.
My heart goes out to Al and his family. It is so sad -- holding a wake for his wife was the last thing he had planned for this Easter weekend. I am thinking about that expression -- sudden death. In tennis, it is because it goes very quickly and when it is over, someone has lost the set, and often the match. I guess, in a weird way, it really does echo the real life meaning. Except in this instance, it's the people who are left alive who are the ones who lose. Instead of celebrating a win, they must work through grief and sadness.
Like I said. It's an expression that will always give me the chills.
No comments:
Post a Comment