the kids and i have been "playing" tennis a lot recently. come to think of it, maybe the quotation marks need to be around both "playing" AND "tennis". because really, what i mean to say is that liam and i stand about ten yards apart in our cul-de-sac trying to hit a tennis ball between us more than two consecutive times, while susanna gallavants all over our neighbors' yards acting as ball girl, retrieving liam's mishits. (the minute she realizes she's just doing what super does -- playing fetch -- i'm afraid the gig will be up.)
they've both been so into it that we decided to take them out to one of the hard courts at our club on sunday afternoon for a half hour or so. it's in this kind of element that the differences between our two children could not be more pronounced. liam, our athletic star with an obnoxious competitive streak, was all business: barking out orders to us about where to stand, who needed to serve, and why, somehow, he always earned the point. but his forehand is effective enough that he and chris had some decent rallies.
meanwhile, susanna, still decked out in her church sundress, hairbow, AND her real pearls, twirled all over the court with her ballet moves. she attempted once or twice to make contact with the ball, but mostly, she preferred posing with her pink prince racket.
we see families out there all the time, with preteens and teenagers playing against their moms and dads. and who knows ... we might just be that way in a few years, playing girls vs. boys, or kids vs. parents.
or, maybe not.
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