Old Lady

Even though we were only gone for 48 hours, it felt like considerably longer because of the extenuating circumstances behind our trip. Seeing Scott's brother and sister-in-law mourn their daughter made me want to hug my kids a little tighter. Scott must have been feeling the same compulsion because we practically smothered Robby and Timmy with hugs and kisses when we saw them.  Wanting to spend some quality time with the kiddos, Friday night I packed them in the car and we headed to the trampoline park. Because Robby is at an age where he doesn't want his mother as a playmate, I allowed him to invite Jack, our neighbor, for the evening.

While Robby and Jack ran and bounced, I spent the evening trying to keep up with Timmy. My goodness my little toddler loves to jump! He was grinning non-stop and only paused from playing long enough to splash in the water fountain.

Eventually Timmy jumped his way into the middle of a Dodgeball game. The game didn't stop for a pint sized player, but as soon as I entered the court everybody froze. A boy, about twelve years old, barked "Everybody stop! Don't hit the old lady."

Now while I appreciated this lad's desire to avoid hitting an adult with a ball, I took issue with the "old lady" descriptor. Feeling particularly spry, I cocked my head and smiled before turning around and pegging him with a ball on his leg. I screamed "game on" and everybody began to scramble.

Before I knew it, I was in the middle of an epic trampoline Dodgeball game. It was the "old lady" versus 10.5 kids (including Robby and his friend and Timmy), and I wasn't about to go down without a fight. I am sure I wasn't as graceful as I felt, but I really think I hit my groove. I was ducking, jumping, slamming and sliding my way across the trampoline field. After about 10 minutes, I had managed to peg every single youngster without incurring a single hit.

While I had a great time schooling the kids in the art of Dodgeball, I think I may have overdone it. I kept my head high and bounced my way off the court with a cocky smile on my face, but I was fairly sure that I wasn't going to be able to bend the next morning. As I swallowed a muscle relaxer that night before bed, I couldn't help but think that perhaps this "old lady" should have stayed out of the game.