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Simon is what happened. This is our first beach vacation with Simon, and boy does having a kid change everything!

It would take more energy and thought than I’m currently capable of to explain all the differences, so I’ll distill it into two observations.

1. On a typical beach vacation, I’d read a book every two to three days. So far, I’ve read about three paragraphs total, and that was about rainy day activities on the Island! Who has time to read when you share a room with your five-year-old and are busy with daily or twice-daily tennis, daily trips to the beach, daily bike rides, daily trips to the play-ground, daily card games, etc.

2. Speaking of tennis… Yesterday pigs flew and hell froze over: I picked up a tennis racket. Have I mentioned exactly how bad I am at tennis? I tried to learn at summer camp twice and was a spectacular failure. In college, I tried again with no better results. It’s not that I have a weak stroke, it’s that I have NO stroke. I cannot hit the ball. I swing the racket and then watch the ball go behind me, beside me, or over my head. I entertained my dorm with my awfulness. I took the class pass fail and passed on the pity curve. Tennis is my Waterloo of recreational activities.

So when Simon hit the courts yesterday to hit some balls, and Matt couldn’t join us right away, I quickly realized that we were a party of three attempting to play doubles. Our options were to play a man short or have me play. The difference between the two was subtle, but one was much friendlier than the other. Heaven help me, I picked up a racket. The beauty of being forty-something is that I no longer care about looking ridiculous. I hit some balls; I missed more balls; Simon laughed; we all had a good time.

This vacation isn’t very relaxing, but it’s a delightful change of pace.

One Response to “Whatever Happened to Beach Reading?”

  1. Amanda says:

    We love both Jessicas, just the way they are.

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