Growing up I wasn’t what you would call a social child. My dearest mother, who as you know I revere as a saint, forced me, sometime physically to attend Brownies for one year. It was brutal! I never tried out for any team sports in part because we moved so much that I was never at one school long enough and also in part because I would have had to remove my nose from a book for a moment.
By high school I was “way too cool“ for sports, plus I smoked which impedes a lot of physical activity. And so I became a non-sporting person. That was just my lot in life.
When Gil decided to start playing dodgeball a few years ago I expected it to be one of his many obsessions, which are often intense but fairly short lived so I smiled indulgently and said “That’s nice dear” a lot. But as time went on he just got more into it. He talked all the time about all these cool new friends he made, he started being SOCIAL!! Truth be told I was a little envious of what he had found and a little nervous of all they pretty dodge-babes he was spending so much time with. So last September when I was discovering the joy of exercise I asked Gil if I could come to dodgeball with him and to my delight he was really glad to have me tag along. Now please keep in mind that I started this venture to get a little exercise and to keep an eye on all those hussies who might be eyeing my man, I had no idea what I was in for; because what I found was so very much more!
I was embraced immediately by a community. Sure there were times and people that I have found frustrating but it has been the exception rather than the rule. The people who have come into my life have been kind, warm and generous. To that end, when a last minute call went out in the middle of the week for a charity dodgeball event today this amazing community jumped on it. The tournament was to raise money for a pretty incredible young man named Ryan Miler, you can read his story here. Our dodgeball comrades managed to pull together some teams with pretty short notice, then they dragged their butts to the gym in Prospect in the wee hour of the morning…
Some people were gracious about it than others. This is Gil and I leaving the house at 6:45am on a Sunday morning…
We started playing at 8:30 and played right through until 1:30. Everyone who came played with pure joy, knowing that at the end of the day the real winner would be Ryan. We had an amazing time, introduced to newbies to the game and raised some money for a very worthy cause. I am so very proud to be a member of this community!
Team FusterCluck! Those are my peeps!
A well earned pint with friends after all was said and done!
Now if you will excuse me I rolled an ankle in the last game and my whole body feels like I was hit by a really fun fright train so I am going to take some Advil and shuffle my old lady ass off to bed. See you on the court!
paperjockey 