On Sunday afternoon, Rachelle and I took the dog over to Huron Park School in order to play a little hockey. Essentially, we just shoot the ball around while Heidi– our miniature Daschund– charges after the ball like a maniac. The dog could not be happier. Her tail beats like a propeller and a huge dog grin animates her face.
Similarly, the school was packed with all sorts of people and animals, all playing in the sun. A father gently lobbed a ball to his four year-old, who took a mighty swing and knocked it sharply into right field. The boy took off around the bases, leaping as he rounded first base, shouting, while dad trudged heavily after the ball, a big grin on his face as he retrieved it, thinking about his boy.
Several teens tossed a football around. One of them, a laid back and cool looking kid, was a beautiful athlete. He was able to time his leaps perfectly, rising easily into the air and catching whatever was thrown to him. He would land happily back on the ground, his hair bouncing, before fluidly throwing the ball back, as if in one, perfect motion. One of the other boys was a little bit of meathead, walking about in an over-muscled strut, even though he really wasn’t all that big. He made a point of overthrowing the ball in an attempt to exhibit all of his strength, habitually saying things like, “sorry, put a little too much mustard on that one,” as the ball sailed over everybody’s heads and crashed into a fence. A pretty blonde girl stood watching, and it wasn’t hard to see which one of the gang she was falling for.
A tiny girl who was probably little more than two, was being taught how to play tennis by her father. She held a racquet that was about the same size that she was, and her dad, pulling tennis balls from a huge knapsack, tossed them one by one to her, while gently offering instructions in Russian. For all we knew, we were witnessing the birth of the next great tennis goddess, but the truth was that on this sunny day, the girl was more interested in watching Heidi, happily yelling “doggie” whenever our dog stole one of her wayward tennis balls.