This was a strange weekend.
Loraine and I couldn't play soccer.
I think I've written in here before
about how she & I head out each weekend with a couple of balls
and kick 'em around. We're not really that good, but we're noticing
that practice has made us a little better. We started last summer,
and then picked up again in May after all the snow had melted. We've
then done it every weekend since, including in the sun this past Sunday, until this weekend.
Darn you, snow!!
It's funny; over the years, people will
always say to us “I saw you guys out walking”. But this past
year, we've actually had people start to say to us “I saw you guys
out playing soccer”. And since we do it at either Lower Harbor
Park (at least when there's no goose poop there) or NMU's Wright
Street Fields (where there's a net set up) I guess I can understand
why. In fact, one of the nicest things someone said about us
recently came out of someone seeing us at Lower Harbor Park.
Loraine and I, at the end of a sweaty
summer session of practice, were playing keep-away. One of us would
get the ball, and the other would try not to let the other have it.
Loraine's a lot better at it than am I, and by the end of this
session we just kind of dissolved into giggles over the whole thing.
Flash forward to the next day, when I
get a call at work from a lady who saw us giggling in the middle of
Lower Harbor Park. She just wanted to let me know that it was, and I
quote, “one of the sweetest things I've seen in quite a long
while”. She thought it was neat that we still “play” together
and have so much fun when we do it. It almost, she joked, restored
her faith in humanity.
And all we were doing was ineptly
playing soccer. Who knew?
It now looks as if we're in our
off-season; four or five months of not having a grassy field on which
to play. It's a bummer, too, for a couple of reasons. One is I've
really started to like playing. While I'm not anywhere near the
natural athlete that Loraine is, I do seem to have one skill that
translates well to the sport—I'm ambi, uhm, footerous. I can kick
equally well with my right and left legs, which apparently is a
prized skill in the sport. Aside from that, playing soccer really
burns off the calories, and that's allowed us to indulge in a few
things (okay, a lot) of ooey-gooey goodies that perhaps would not
indulge in otherwise.
And that's sad.
So now, unless we can find someplace
indoors that would work, it looks like we're off until April or May,
and it'll be a bummer. I've really grown to enjoy our little
“practice” sessions, and our weekends just won't be the same.
8-(
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