Unexpected Party
friends
Senior Night
Tonight was the Girl’s last regular-season volleyball game. Not of the year. Of her high school career. We have at least one more game as playoffs start: we’ll be playing someone somewhere this Thursday, but we won’t know until tomorrow morning who and where.
Six years of volleyball are coming to an end. It’s hard not to get a little emotional about that. Last year, with the conclusion of the season’s final game (the second or so round into the playoffs — perhaps the first? I can’t remember), L was in tears at the end of the game. “It’s just that’s the last time we’ll be playing with our seniors,” she said as she explained that she wasn’t in tears so much because of the loss.
The shoe is on the other foot now, one could argue. It’s the other girls who should be crying because they’re losing L. “It’s just that we’ll never play with L or S again,” they should be saying. Or maybe the tears last year weren’t just about the senoirs leaving.
Before the game, we had a ceremony with intros, pictures, and cheers. The girls on the team made gift baskets and posters for the two seniors, and there was a display in the gym entry. The coach had asked parents last week to send some pictures of the girls from various points in their childhood and in their volleyball careers, and she chose a baby picture of each girl and had t-shirts made for the parents. Coincidentally, she chose the same picture Papa’s coworkers chose years ago to make a shirt for him as he retired (for the second time? third?).
After the coin toss and warmups, the girls were introduced — possibly the last time L is introduced on her home court where the cheers are the loudest and most sincere.
As for the game itself, it was a fairly simple matter: Greenwood’s divisional record before tonight was 1-12. We’d already beaten them once, and we won easily tonight. But I have to hand it to those Greenwood girls: it takes a lot to keep coming out game after game when you’re stacking up loss after loss, almost all of them in straight sets.
Afterward, there were the usual shots — with the unusual shirts.
Conestee and Ognisko
This afternoon, we went to our favorite park — the first time since Helene. We knew a lot of the trails would be closed: those winding through the forest would have trees blocking the way, and those along the coast of the small lake were boardwalks and would likely be destroyed.
Most of the unpaved trails were closed; not all were. Most of the boardwalks were washed out; not all were.
In the evening, a party — the best parties are often the unplanned parties.
“We’re having our first ognisko tonight. You should come.”
“Okay — we’ll bring dessert.”
The evening flows, a bottle of vodka appears, the evening continues, the bottle is empty. A Sunday-night party that ends just a little later than it should.
Old Friends, Old Teammates
They’ve known each other for years. They’ve played together on at least three different teams. During high school season, they’ve played against each other for four years.
Two years ago, when he Mauldin girls took state, L’s team beat S’s and E’s team in straight sets.
Tonight, the roles were reversed. Woodmont is a regional powerhouse this year just like Mauldin was two years ago.
But no matter who wins, the after-game picture is always the same.
Memorial Day Get Together
Splash!
Evening Boat Ride
Sunday
More Holiday Cheer
Castles and Old Friends
Today was a day of castles: Niedzica and Czorsztyn. The former was once guarding the Hungarian border; the latter was protecting the Polish side of the border. In the middle ran a river. A dam completed in 1997 turned that river into a Czorsztynskie Lake.
In the afternoon, we headed to Nowy Targ, just for a bit of ice cream at the best ice cream place on the planet and some baked goods before heading to the highlight of the day.
A visit with my oldest friend here.
Memorial Day Walk
We decided today to visit Greenville’s newest park: Unity Park. According to the website,
Greenville’s newest park features four state-of-the-art playgrounds, including a 4,100-square-foot splash pad, two expansive green spaces, covered picnic tables and a 10,000-square-foot welcome center with restrooms, a first-aid station and flexible event space. The 60-acre park also features basketball courts and a historic baseball field located on the site of the former Mayberry Park, which was built in 1925.
Unity Park Site
E and I rode our bikes by it on our last trip on the Swamp Rabbit trail, but it was still under construction at that point.
After exploring the new park for a while, we walked downtown to the tried and true Reedy River Park.
An overall lovely day.
American/Polish Ognisko
Saturday in Tennessee
Little Girls
who no longer are.
T Comes for a Visit
One sign that you’re growing older is when a young lady comes to visit you with her boyfriend — just the two of them. No parents.
And you recall that the first time you met the young lady, she was a toddler climbing about on your living room furniture, acting completely and joyously wild.
The Boy loves such visits because he gets an audience for his performances.
American Ognisko
Scouts
Coming home from scouts tonight, the Boy and I had a conversation about friendship. He talked to me a bit about what happened to Malfoy in the third book of the Harry Potter series, which K is currently reading to him. Apparently he got mauled by some creature.
“Oh, that’s not good,” I said.
“But Malfoy is bad!” E clarified.
“Yes, but that’s no reason to wish ill of him. Besides, he might not turn out that bad by the end of it all.” I knew this from conversations I’d had with L about the series, but I didn’t want to give anything away to the boy.
“Yeah, L told me that he and Harry become friends in the end.”
So much for not giving it away.
“That’s sort of like T and me,” the Boy continued. “We didn’t use to like each other. Well, we really didn’t know each other, but then we got to know each other and decided to become friends.”
I thought about that for a moment, pondering the choice of words: “decided” to become friends. I imagined this conversation between the two boys, a negotiation of sorts.
It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it?
T might not even be aware that in E’s eyes, they “decided” to become friends. For all I know, T might not even consider E his friend but merely an acquaintance.
Kids and adults see friendship differently, I think. I feel I’m more jaded than I can imagine him ever being. That’s the magic of childhood, I guess.
Sunday with Friends
In many regards, they might as well be sisters.
After all, our kids refer to each other as cousins, and they’re here for all the major holidays.
If that doesn’t make us family, I don’t know what does.
Morning
Post-Christmas Saturday
