Tennis update

While I know this subject bores the majority of you, there are a few people out there who truly care. The last update mentioned that the team I coach made the playoffs. We were one of 8 teams to qualify for the Nothern Oregon Usta Sectional Championships. For the first time in my clubs history our team actually won the whole tournament. We now go on to play against 5 other teams to decide the Pacifac Northwest Championships. We play Yakima Tennis Club first round and Amy Yee Tennis Center out of Seattle second round. If we win both we play in the finals against either Anchorage Alaskas club, Courthouse in Salem, or Valley Tennis Club out of Washington. The winner of this tournament gets to play for the National Championships in Hawaii. Not an eay task, but anything is possible. One side note. While playing in junior tennis tournaments down in San Diego, I had one player who beat me in four seperate tournaments. It use to drive me crazy seeing his name in the draw, especially in early rounds. I now live a thousand miles away and never heard his name since..... Upon looking up information about the players on the team we play first round, I found out he is the head coach for their club. Small world. It's just nice to be given another chance to get even.

Memories!

This one just might get extremely sappy, but way too many thoughts came into my mind today that needed to be shared. First of all, I had a wonderful day with my daughter. I took her down to the Blues Festival at Waterfront Park and had a great time. While I know she doesn't truly appreciate the artists I know she will remember the event years down the road. One thing that is really funny with her is her ability to remember the most mundane occurances associated with a much larger event. I now find myself wondering what she will remember twenty years later about this day. My guess is feeding the Canadian Geese off the deck and the porto potty trucks coming to empty the bathrooms. She'll probably also remember that we parked on the third floor at the parking garage located on 4th and Columbia. Maybe with the refreshment of the internet she'll be reminded years from now that there were some pretty good artists singing as well.
While watching fireworks with her in the backyard, I couldn't help but think about my favorite 4th of July memory, one that will never be erased. When I was young(unsure of Age) I visited my grandpa in Missouri. He took us to a firework stand and proceeded to buy endless amounts of explosives as if there was no possible way to buy too many. I just remember him feeding off my brothers and my excitement as the more he picked out the more excitement we showed. I later came to believe our excitement at the stand meant way more to him than the expolsions themselves ever would. We went back to his farm and proceeded to blow them up for a real long time. I am not sure any 4th of July will ever match that one.
The point of the two stories was quite clear to me, but one that many people fail to understand. Often in life we try to create memories, carefully executing every last detail. However, most fond memories are created simply by the fact that the people involved were actually together just being themselves. I don't think anything tickled my grandpa more than
seeing my brother and myself happy. Wherever we went he always made sure we were treated as royalty. I have since come to appreciate the amount of effort he went through to make us feel special. If ever there was a person I wish I could of spent a lot more time with he would be the one.