Our schedule has been so hectic lately, and Mother Nature hasn’t been making it any easier.
With our Thursday leagues seeming doomed from the beginning of the season, my team was happy to hear that makeup games were scheduled for a Sunday in May. I mean, the weather HAS to be decent by then, right?
Well, the forecast did look promising… but a quick check of the calendar showed, that between the engagement parties, weddings, baby showers, and barbecues, there was yet another spring time obligation – Mother’s Day.
Since my typical Sundays consist of waking up just in time to watch The Brady Bunch marathon on MeTV (we don’t have cable, shut up), inhaling my standard two sunny-side up eggs with Cholula, guacamole and tons of pepper, drinking a pitcher of coffee, and then finding new and incredibly creative ways to procrastinate so that I don’t have to clean the house, volleyball certainly sounded like a welcome break from the norm. But, crap, it was Mother’s Day. What to do?
My brilliant teammates solved this problem by suggesting that we invite our collective moms out to Volleyball Beach. It was supposed to be perfect out, and we could get them a few drinks, something hot off the grill, and also have a built-in cheering section. I know we’re no longer children, but there must be something parents love so much about seeing their kids play sports that they readily agreed despite the fact that their kids are now beer-swilling jackasses in their late 30s who are getting caught in the net like giant tuna.
And so it was set. Our moms (and some dads) came out on a beautiful Sunday. The weather felt like a summer day in NoCal and really, don’t our poor Thursday teams deserve at least that to help make up for their volleyball withdrawal so far this year? Not only did the moms have a nice time, but they must’ve inspired something in us “kids”, too. We still drank beer, we still mocked each other every chance we got, we still played air guitar to Nickelback, we still laughed more than we played, and we still flew through the air like a klutzy circus troupe. But with our parents behind us, we actually ended up winning some games, too!
Overall, it was a great Mother’s Day at the beach. Why wait for a table at a crowded restaurant when you can have mom out for a few drinks and fresh onion rings (that’s what my mom got) on the one and only deck at Volleyball Beach? It was a win-win. Playing on a Sunday afternoon was so fun that I felt obligated to tell Howard that he should host open play afternoons every Sunday before the evening’s leagues are scheduled. And then I was promptly informed that they already do that. Whoops.
Goodbye Mike, Carol, Greg, Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!, Peter, Jan, Bobby, Cindy, and Alice. And Tiger. Next Sunday, I’m going to the beach!