I Play Pickleball Now

 

I play pickleball now.

 

Dan got me a set of paddles for my birthday. 

 

He was probably tired of hearing me sigh every time we drove by the courts popping up all over the surrounding 'burbs.

 

"I miss playing tennis. You never play tennis with me," I lamented. "I wonder if pickleball is as much fun." 

It is.

 

Benny, my seven-year-old nephew, taught me the basics in our driveway while he was visiting one weekend. At one point, the ball rolled into our street as a pickup truck rounded the corner, and I almost got us both run over. 

 

Don't tell his parents . . .

My husband, Dan, and I eventually scoped out a few nearby courts. The trick, however, was finding an empty one.

 

We discovered that if we went to the more conservative neighborhoods on Sunday mornings, especially those close to an evangelical church, we could usually find an open court. 

The courts nearest us were always full on Sunday mornings. I wonder what that says about our neighborhood. #heathens

One Saturday evening, I ran into a friend of mine who attends my church, and we talked about possibly seeing each other between services Sunday morning.

I texted him the next morning, "Nevermind. We decided to go play pickleball instead of going to church again 😆."
 

I also texted my dad a similar message, "We're going to play pickleball instead of going to church. The only way we can find a court is to go to church-y, conservative neighborhoods on Sunday mornings. And we're extending our summer before choir starts in the fall."
 

"Nice. Pickleball is the next step to old age," was his response.

"Dan and I are fierce at pickleball," I replied. "We don't look like the other old people playing around us."

 

Now, who's ready for some badass pickleball? 

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The Coke Machine in the Music Room

After our school got new carpet and paint over the summer, I was not the only one with weird stuff in my classroom. But I was the only one with a Coke machine.

 

#mostpopularmusicroomever

 

I returned to school and found the Coke machine in my room and thought I could get a few of the several district movers, who were in our school specifically to move weird things out of people's rooms, to relocate the machine to the faculty room where it belonged.

 

No luck. None of the 525 workers in our building were allowed to touch it. (I do want to say, they were very helpful with everything else though.) 

 

Only someone from Coke was allowed to move the Coke machine. (We may or may not have tried to shimmy it out the door while no one was looking, but it wouldn't budge.)

 

The school and one of the big bosses from facilities and operations (I had connections, man) started calling the Coke company while I worked on getting my classroom set up around the machine. There was a little over a week before kids were scheduled to darken my door.

 

"Kids can get thirsty! They’re just being proactive," one of my friends commented on Facebook.

"I’m sure loads of caffeine and sugar will enhance the learning experience," said another.

"PTO Fundraiser?" I asked one of our parents who commented on my photo.

"Come on. It would be fun to have all your kiddos hyped up on sugar in class," a friend joked.

"Or fun to have me hyped up on sugar in class!" I responded . . . because that would be the reality.

On Thursday of that week, I returned my classroom from in-services to find it minus one Coke machine.

 

 

I was told our administrative assistant and the big boss from facilities finally got a hold of someone at Coke (after several tries) and "gave them the business!" Nice!

 

So the Coke machine found its way back home to the faculty room.

 

 

Don't worry. We don't have Coke machines for children in our elementary schools, although, if it wasn't moved out of my room by the time school started, I did consider giving each kid a free soda right before they headed back to class. 

 

That's a joke. I wouldn't do that to my teacher friends.

 

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.