Our Courting Story

So my honey took me courting this morning!  J  It has been 23 years since we had a date to play racquetball.  It was a blast.  I’ve always enjoyed playing racquetball because it’s a valid sport for me.  Unlike tennis, if I hit the ball really crazy, it can only travel so far before it hits a wall and bounces back somewhere close.  A tennis ball, on the other hand, will leave the court, sail over the fence, fly across a four lane road, and into a yard.  (Trust me – I know these things!) Racquetball allows me to keep playing a game that involves a racquet instead a game of fetch. 

I have always loved the intimate feeling of leaving the rest of the world behind and spending time together on the court.  The health club court has a tinted widow along the top of the back wall. Half way through our time we realized that the widow is in the wall of one of the hospital’s waiting rooms and there were several shadows watching us play.  (So much for privacy.)  I am sure we were quite entertaining. 

Here are the highlights of our date:

• Longest volley: 13 hits
• Approximate percentage of the balls I successfully returned: 50%
• Percentage of the hour I spent laughing at myself:  75%
• Most commonly used phrase we said about our own good hits:  “That was lucky!”
• Most commonly used excuse for not going after a ball: “I was afraid I was going to hit you.”
• How many times I hit myself with the racquet or the ball: 6
• Where I hit Pat with the ball: Dead center of his forehead.
• Where Pat has a really red mark that looks like a giant hickey: Dead center of his forehead.
• Pat’s quick, witty retort: “Next time I’ll remember to wear a hard hat with my safety glasses.”
• Most romantic thing said on our date: “I love you as much as I missed hitting that ball by.”

 Romance is alive and well!  I see many racquetball dates in our future.