Thankful Thursday...

I love tennis!  I love to watch it, I love to teach it, and I loved playing (back in my youthful, half my current weight days).  Ever since I watched Andre Agassi play in the 1991 (or was it '92?) US Open, I've been hooked.

I completely understand that tennis isn't for everyone.  Not everyone likes it, or understands it, so I may be speaking to a very small audience today.

I assume that those who don't like tennis feel the way I feel about golf - I'd rather supervise the growing of grass or the drying of paint before I'd voluntarily sit and watch 18 holes of "where did the little white ball go?"...no thank you!

But, today isn't about golf (and how I think it was created as a substitute for Tylenol PM), it's about being thankful, and today I'm thankful for tennis.

For those who aren't tennis followers, Wimbledon (one of the 4 major tournaments of the year) is currently taking place in England.  I look forward to it every year, even with the complications of finding coverage (the London to California time difference doesn't help), having to avoid seeing results online before I've watched the matches, and finding time to sit and watch the matches that I'm interested in between arriving home from work and having to go to bed.  None of that matters - I'll do what I have to do, but I guarantee, I'll see my Wimbledon!

With so many big changes happening in my life right now, tennis is my release.  I know that I can sit in front of the tv, turn on my hours of recorded coverage, and completely tune out the chaos of the day, the dread of what will find me tomorrow, the stress of my life, and just relax. 

Even if I only watch for a few minutes, I enjoy it while I can, and appreciate what it brings to me.  For those few minutes, I am focused on my favorite game being played half a world away.

So, for what remains of this fortnight of tennis, my free time will be spent monitoring the ever-changing scores, studying the draws, and loving the build-up to the finals next weekend.

I suppose I should also be thankful that I've managed to get Ben hooked on tennis as well!!!