289: here i sit

hey y'all.

what a beautiful day we had yesterday in our lick of land. the sun was oh so shiny and the wind puffed warmly on our elbows.

thank you God.

but i did something yesterday that i almost regret today. almost. not quite.

baby bliss and i were gonna head for the library yesterday so we could get our game fix on, using the library's wi-fi. (cuz we only have dial-up at home.) however, mr. bliss called to say it was warm and sunny, and we were swayed into thoughts of outdoor physical exertion.

baby bliss wanted to play soccer but since the only place nearby to play is the tennis court, we took our badminton rackets as well.

since we were on the court, we kicked the soccer ball to the corner and decided to play badminton first.

what a game we had! i was in rare form, jumping high and lunging low, feats of physical prowess i hadn't performed in too many years to count. it felt good to swing that racket out there in the late afternoon sun as i imagined myself being secretly taped by Bjorn Borg, who just happened to be driving by and was so taken with my game that he was compelled to stop and pull out his camcorder.

we had been playing for about 45 minutes when i saw the IMB (Indian Men's Brigade) coming up the steps. i was surprised to see that they all had rackets because a neighbor once told me that the IMB congregated at the court every day to talk. ha! shows what she knows.

one of the gentlemen politely asked how much longer we would be playing.

"five more minutes," i said. "i'm already winded."

we both laughed and i went back for five additional minutes of wild lobbying and zinging volleys.

baby bliss and i ended our game with "next sunday, mommy" and "way to go girl!", bid the IMB individual "Namaste"s, and went in search of a suitable soccer field.

our cousins who live five minutes away have a backyard big enough for football but we decided not to ask them for the privilege. for that would obligate us to return the favor by allowing their sons to use the facilities in our apartment complex. (which wouldn't be a problem if the lads were halfway civilized. alas, they are not. so we are at all times careful not to ask them for favors of any kind.)

#2 Auntie (who lives next door to the cousins) has no yard to speak of out back cuz she likes her trees right where they are. (she did have a few cleared away, so they wouldn't fall on the deck in a storm i s'pose, but her trees make a small forest in spring and summer.) so we knew we couldn't play at her house. and she wasn't home any way.

we continued on to grandma's house. grandma's yard is big enough but grandma has a rule about her grass: keep off.

she thinks grass is for grow and show, nothing more. even when we lived in my hometown and her backyard was 1/3 of the size it is now, we were not allowed to walk or sit on the grass. somehow, she managed to keep it the perfect shade of green and impeccably manicured. always.

the front yard (a few inches bigger than a postage stamp) was just as tidy.

in fact, grandma's whole house (inside and out) was this way. leading some of the non-enlightened neighbors to accuse grandma of things like witchcraft and sorcery.

but i've digressed into fond childhood reminiscence. please forgive me y'all.

so we couldn't play soccer at grandma's. i didn't think to go to the park or recreation center. i guess i was still trying to catch my breath from our game of badminton.

poor baby bliss. she was very upset with me when we headed home. she had tears in her eyes as she accused me of staying at grandma's too long, just so we couldn't go play soccer.

i didn't do it on purpose, i swear. i was just tired and my brain was a little addled.

and thank God for absent-mindedness.

when i got up this morning, my hind parts (which i always understood as "hine potts" when i was a baby bliss) were crying out for mercy and a good massage.

i enjoyed our game yesterday and except for the sore parts, i'll do it again next sunday. but maybe i should warm up first?

too bad i can't take the laptop in the tub cuz that's where i'll spend a few hours soaking tonight, soon as we get home from the library.