by Laurie Wagner | Jul 1, 2014 | Blog
“Come on Gal! Hit the ball! God dammit!” This is the sound of my 77-year-old Mother shouting at herself during her tennis lesson this morning. “No! No! No!” she screams as she slams the racquet into the ball. “Move it!” she shouts, rushing to the net. She’s not actually playing with anyone, just hitting with Dan, the pro, an easy going guy in his early 60’s who stands at the net hitting balls to my Mom. “Suzy,” he says, lobbing her another ball, “if you do all the talking I’ll have nothing to teach you.” My Mother is hardcore. She’s broken her nose three times in adulthood – twice on the baseball field while playing catcher – and once when an apple fell on it when she was up in a tree. She brings her mitt to the Dodger’s games, and has actually caught the ball three times. She’s nobody’s fool, doesn’t mince words. A couple of years ago I was Christmas shopping for her and she called me as I was entering the mall. “I’m just about to go into Chico’s to find a nice holiday gift for you,” I said sweetly. “Chicos!” she shouted! “Don’t you dare get me anything from fucking Chicos!” She got a lovely pumpkin colored jacket from fucking Chico’s that year and she wears it all the time. Back on the court I’m kind of astounded that she’s so rough with herself. “What if you shouted ‘YES” instead of “NO” when you hit the ball,” I suggest, ever the positive thinker. “Maybe you wouldn’t...
