The Change: 3

The End Of Tennis Season

 (This is an ongoing story. If you want to start at the beginning, click here.)

I made my first call to AE after a long winter that never seemed to get cold, in the middle of a long spring that never seemed to warm up.

From September through April, I usually play tennis two or three times a week, in an indoor court with a few different groups.  Monday Tennis is a group lesson. My long-time instructor brought us together based on ability and temperament and we’ve been together for many years.  I don’t know how or why this group gelled like it did, but it's like therapy for me. Starting on Friday afternoon, I begin counting the hours until Monday Tennis.

Thursday Tennis began as a practice game for a country club team. I wasn’t part of the team, but they were looking for another person to join the group and someone suggested me.  There were seven of us in total and every week four were scheduled to play. I didn’t know most of the women when I started, but I’ve played with them every other week for a few years and it’s a really nice game.

Friday Tennis is a group of women, hand-picked by me, that all have one thing in common: they’re fun. Our Friday Tennis games are severe, silly, bawdy, tearful, and sheer bliss. As women’s gatherings go, they fall somewhere between a knitting circle and a Fuckerware Party. It’s a place where we learn how to rear our teenagers and weather our diagnoses. I’m not even really a good enough player to play in this game – I lose all the time. But we all depend on each other emotionally, so they let me stay.

When I made my first call to AE, these groups were all ending for the season. From that point on we would start to play outside once a week, a big group comprised of many people from each of my three winter groups. I’ve organized summer tennis for several years now. For me, playing with the same women over the summer makes the change in my regular tennis routine less upsetting.

Apparently AE was on a long trip over the spring and that’s why she didn't called me back right away. I called her again a month later and then again and finally got an appointment in early June.

My knee hadn’t gotten any worse, but over the spring there were a few old injuries that were starting to bother me. I refrained from visiting any of my regular team of healers. I wanted to hold out and wait for my AE session. I hadn’t even met her yet and I’d already decided she was going to fix everything.

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