Tom's Volleyball Tournament

... giving the ball a bounce ...

I want to journal about Tom’s tournament.

 I think because of the happiness I feel when I am watching someone I love in a basketball or volleyball tournament.

I must bring with me all of the joys of the past and being their with my own children – learning the rules of the game, finding out the names of the players, sitting by their parents, shouting out ‘good play’ when a well-oiled team works together to gain a point or two, hearing one of the players call out ‘magnificent’, as I heard one yesterday.

 He was right. It was a great play.

the begnning of a running serve ...

I could hear the laughter in the other parents as their shoulders rocked with laughter, as did mine.

I met Bianca, Nadia and Catherine – the trio of other volleyball players who like to some and see Tom.

I talked about Tara Westover’s book, Educated, with one of the parents who had the book sitting on her lap.

 She travels a lot, she said, and she carries it with her to read.

 

Tom's resting stance

Still going at it since August she said and then showed me where she was in the book.

I told her that by the end of the book, having read it twice now, I was thinking about how difficult the relationships can be, between adults who have lived in the same house for many years, both parents and children.

I must have read the book when it first came out. I couldn’t remember doing that. I do remember listening to 4 different interviews with her.

When I picked up the book again, each page I thought, wow, did I hear this in the interview, since it seems familiar to me.

I was many pages in until I figured out, yes, I did read this.

But I didn’t mind a second read since she is clear about what she was thinking during her adolescence and young adult years.

A Metaphor
half the team looks east
the other half looks west

I hear many stories a second time. Anthony’s mother, Caroline, thought the book was about the difficulty for parents of letting their children have choices.

I find the last third of the book compelling and will probably read it again some night, when I am winding down and getting ready to sleep.

Well, watching tournaments, … a joy.

And being literate … another privilege.

Arta