The Story from Day one is the previous post.
Two Days, A Saturday, concludes the tournament for this player.
Thursday, A Gold Medal in Mens Doubles.
Saturday, A Silver Medal in Mens Singles.
God Has Blessed This Player With Good Health.
And He Is Very Grateful.
Over the past couple of years, Senior Olympics has presented some of its older participants the equivalent of the Free Lunch. By having it's age grouping contain a 85-89 category, it narrowed the number of older players so that the team or individual that had the energy to register and show up for the State finals in Pickleball automatically won the gold medal.
Indeed, I have several gold medals that were "earned" in this way. Over the past few years I have enjoyed the status of "gold medal winner", but have always hastened to tell the whole story in a self-deprecating way.
2023 is a different year. Most of the events in the overall Senior Olympics have been contested in the Nashville area, which is in Middle Tennessee. Pickleball has been in Chattanooga for the past 3 years at least. This city in Southeastern Tennessee, is not an easy drive for those folks who live west of us, so few make the trip.
Pickleball, this year is a 4-day event. That means a long drive, higher hotel bills, and a possible 4 days of participation for all those who do not live in our corner of the state.
The result in previous years: Most of the P/b medals were won by players in our area, and the older age groups contained only Chattanooga area players. My gold medals, were virtually uncontested. They hang on my wall downstairs, not a a symbol of quality play, but one of the blessing of overall health.
Not this year. The Senior Olympic organization made a special effort to get P/b players from other parts of the state, and the 2023 State Finals drew 630 players, at least 100 more than previous years.
So the 85-89 age group for men's doubles play had more than one contesting team. Jack and I could not win by just showing up. A west Tennessee team made the trip east, and as we watched them practice before the gold medal match, we knew they did not just come for the scenery.
The convention center was our venue. With 30 courts. filled with players, the activity was pretty loud and it was continuous. Our scheduled time to show up was 8AM on the first day of the Finals.
We even had new T-Shirts for our BX team.
Jack and I were behind for most of the first set, but managed to close with 3 straight points to win 11-9. Flush with our first game victory, we managed to lose the second game 2-11. Regrouping, we won the third game 11-5 to claim the age group title.
Gold Medals again this year, but with more sweat on them.
It is fun to win the gold, but more fun to have good competition and still take home the medal.
The lunch tasted far better.
We needed rain, but this?
And the Bunny reminds us:
We Are Not in Control
Amen
At long last, the weather and the water have cooperated. Both are warmer.
And the graduation circuit of May, has been completed, in person and on time.
First the new graduates in the family and their immediate plans:
Conway, AR was our first stop for Archer's graduation from University of Central Arkansas. This amazing young man is working with a career coach to determine his path forward. Proud parents and sister Ash celebrate.
Next stop, Blacksburg, VA for Drew's graduation from Virginia Tech. He will be working in Richmond, and ready to spread his wings. Mom and Dad are proud for sure.
We spent the week in Blacksburg to be able to watch Lucy graduate from Blacksburg High. She will enroll at Virginia Tech in the Fall. Go Hokies.
Now back to goings on in Chattanooga, specifically, Clark Road and Chickamauga Lake.
Remember this pic from Christmas Time? The inflatable kayak, our newest toy.
The Lady in the front seat, keeps us out of harm's way as we manage to paddle down the slough and then head back to our dock. We were sorta awkward in the water, but we will get better if we don't fall out of the boat.
Carolyn and I took a quick Beach trip over the weekend. We have not felt able to spend much time in St. Simons, but a few days presented themselves and we went South.
One of the great advantages of going to that locale is that we have great friends living there and they always invite us to spend our time with them. They not only have a great B&B with a comfortable room and bed, but they are quick to feed us, and their home is familiar to us because it is the same house that Mayre and I sold them when we moved to Virginia some years back.
We feel right at home here.
One thing we miss is the beach at sunrise, so we got up one morning at 6, dressed and went over to the beach area at Gould's Inlet for the 7:15 event.
On arrival we could see the beginning to the prelude, a lighter sky off to the northeast.
So we gathered our stuff, left the car, and began our walk out to the ocean.
Problem number 1: the boardwalk from the parking area to the sea, which used to run over the sand and small inlet over to the beach, had been washed away by a recent hurricane and had not been rebuilt as yet.
Problem number 2: The no-see-ums, or sand gnats were out in full force in the calm morning, and they wanted us for breakfast.
So, back to the car, any remaining camera shots would be made from inside the car, and we would watch the coming sunrise from there, in safety.
The sunrise itself was fantastic:
Then, low and behold, the sound of a weed eater.
County employees chose this spot to begin their morning work right in front of the car.
The sunrise had been splendid, but a couple of early morning hassles gave us the excuse to go "home".
Beaches are great, and St. Simons is a wonderful place to live and to visit, but there are drawbacks.
Paradise, but spelled with a small "p".
There is no way to know if we can do justice to a subject unless we try. That said, I am going to do my best to put down how my mind is working this morning, although "working" may not be the right word.
Stick with me on this..
My sweet Wife and I have an understanding. We agree that gifts are not the reason for any celebration.
Gifts are given because we want to celebrate the person, along with the significant occasion that is meaningful. Significant occasions are Christmas, Birthdays, Anniversaries and any other time that we feel like it
Gifts can be expensive, cheap, or free.
Gifts can be full of meaning or laughter.
Gifts can be anything except an obligation.
OK, last Thursday, March 16, 2023 was my wife's birthday, a significant occasion for sure.
What to do?
I had no specific plans or gifts in mind.
Fortunately plans were being made that would make this special day a success.
A. I got an email from Publix. We had put our phone number on a list that would make us eligible for discounts and other items. If I would go to our nearby store, the email stated, we would receive a gift.
A bouquet of fresh flowers, and all I had to do was pay the sales tax, the flowers were free. Cost me $.21. Some person at Publix, or their advertising agency had come up with this plan, and I was the recipient, plus it was right on time.
B. Thursday is the day that we volunteer to man an information desk at the BX. We needed a prescription for Carolyn, which, coincidently was at Publix, so I could pick up my gift and the meds after our volunteer stint. What timing!
While we were "working" one of our supervisors appeared at our desk with food, two Chick Fil A boxes, complete with chicken sandwich, chips and even a chocolate chip cookie. Supper furnished by some organization, meeting at the BX, who ended up with extra meals. Again, great timing.
C. The Day of Unplanned Events was not finished.
A chocolate chip cookie pie, which was this Day's dinner dessert, delivered to our front porch by our Fed Ex man, but which did not arrive at the table whole.
Thanks Becky! We couldn't wait.
Now, I probably should go back and change the title of this little piece. It was indeed a Plan, just not mine.
How many items, or situations, or people show up unannounced by any plan of ours.
It is definitely beneficial for us that we are not in charge
Back in December, we had single digit cold temps. The thermometer hovered around the 5 degree mark for several hours, and we had several nights like this. Shucks, we even had a frozen water pipe.
Fast forward to February, 2023, we had a day in the 80s, and another day like this in early March.
The red bud tree down by the road is flush with color, and some kinds of grasses are showing a lot of green for this time of year.
I even got out the mower and trimmed some of the back yard. I can't remember ever doing that in February.
We can't do much about the weather, worrying about it is not worth the time.
Just enjoy what we are given.
What we see outside is what we will get.
