Dad played, almost every tournament that we played. He lost in the first or second round, most of the time and it gave him time to watch my matches. He played Jimmy Fonsville and lost in the finals, in a very long match and that was the first trophy.
He watched and watched and always had a word to tell me about what I did or didn't do, win or lose. After I lost to Joann Jacobs, in the finals of one the woman's tournament at Rochdale, he and I had an unwritten law. He would never again watch me in my sight, if it was a tourney. He couldn't control himself and his mouth and I couldn't win, if he was watching.
I know that my father admired my strokes and my youth; his pressure on me meant that I had potential. I didn't know that, then.
He screamed and yelled in front of everybody, because we had practiced hundreds and hundreds of crosscourt, put away shots and when the drop shot came to me at game point, I sliced it and tried to dropshot her back. You never dropshot Jo Jacobs, she ran like a deer and put it away on me. I was too young to let my father's words run like water off of a duck's back. He watched me from the mountains at Rochdale and from the clefts in the rocks at Crotona, etc. and if he saw me see him, he would move. I knew what he would say and the pressure was working, just working inwardly and not always outwardly.
It is interesting that when he won his trophy, we were there to cheer him and I am so grateful that he won great parent award at Forest Hills. He took on parenting with all that he had. He had no father and he gave fatherhood all of the strength that was in him. The impact was powerful.
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Title- The Studious One!
artwork by Elyse
Of biscuits and syrup
tasty treats
Happy Saturday!
a day at the Raptor Center.
Widdle Emmie in outer space school
Emmie jumped on the bus and off it flew out into the atmosphere. There was a set of clouds with turbulence right above the house and it took a few minutes for my Emmie to buckle her seatbelt. They hit the bump hard and it knocked my Emmie out of her seat and she bumped her head. The video camera came on and the monitor looked through and stated, Ms. Emmie, where are you? You are not in your seat. Where are you? I am alright I fell because I hadn’t buckled correctly. Well jump up Emmie we have a long way to go and you have to be buckled there is entirely too much turbulence in the stratosphere for you to unbuckle now. As soon as we are through this weather system there will be straight sailing but right now you must buckle. Emmie scrambled into the seat with intensity and purpose now. She watched every cloud pass her window and her nose was pressed to the window trying to see the top of the house as it drifted slowly out of sight. Soon they were not only out of sight of the house, the sun came out brightly and just as quickly they were putting on the atmospherical breathing apparatus and the outerspherical lights. The ABA and the OL. These precautions were to make them appear to be satellites to the radar as they were out in the ionosphere. Emmie knew all about this now. She had gone to the orientation and had a good breakfast and it took them 20 minutes for her to get out past the atmospherical pull and to feel the zero gravity. It would be 15 minutes before the gravity simulators would take effect, a glitch in the system which was being worked on. Until then, they enjoyed the couple of minutes of floatation, while being connected to the seats by belt. The first thing they saw everyday was the strataflotsam. The items which had been dumped into the atmosphere by earlier generations. What would their generation do about this ecological waste area that remained floating above their heads? This was a question for the generations. For now it was the area that they had to guide through on the way to school.
Midnight at the OASIS
Sunset in Huntersville
My little Emmie
ran to the bus on the first day of the last year of school. 2 buns on the side of her head. She kissed me and ran at dawn to the bus. She was starting the adventure of a lifetime. I would never see that little girl again, she was going to woman school!
My Father and I 1989
to the tune of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
A VISIT TO PAPA
Are you going to Mary Immaculate?
Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,
Remember me to the one who lived there,
He once was a true love of mine,
Tell him to buy me an acre of land,
Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,
Between the muddy Hudson in Jamaica Bay,
Then, He’ll be a true love of mine,
Tell him to sow in it seeds of pure cream,
Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,
And build Ice cream mountains and buildings of whipped cream,
Then, He’ll be a true love of mine,
Tell him to reap them with sickles of M&M’s,
Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,
And chew bubble gum and eat till we’re done,
Then, He’ll be a true love of mine.
Tell him to run it off down the motor parkway,
Apricots, Chocolate Cherries and Pie,
After your done 50 pushups
and jog down the West Side Highway,
Then he’ll be a true love of mine…
(Don’t wait for me today dad, The kids are sick again, My tummy’s bulging again, My heart is aching again, And now there’s no love there…)
He once was, a true love of mine….So, Girls, I do beg you don't miss your Daddy,Apricots, Chocolate cherries and Pie,You have one short chance to see him on this side, Go visit him and let your light shine.
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