The girls played in the Epiphany league and it really was designed to be a starter league, but all the games were Friday night. So we practiced once a week and had a game every friday. This was the 1980s and the gym was always full of parents of about 5 or 6 teams. There were extra 10 years olds that just seemed to run around and slide on their jeans between stoppages in play ( I am still convinced it was cheaper than babysitting, just dump your kids at the gym for a couple of hours and then pick them up later). Oh and it had one more ingredient, cold beer was served liberally and cheaply throughout the entire night. Parents of the 6 p.m. games did not go home right away, that ordered a couple of more beers and watched the games of total strangers. The game scores were like 12-10 and every basket was a big event to the raucous crowd.
Holly was the star guard on that team. We coached Holly all the way until the 12th grade. For some reason, several of these girls should have played high school ball, but those were the days when 60 freshmen would try out for basketball and let's just say good kids were missed. Because of that introduction, I decided I was enjoying my evenings more than my day time job as an engineer and ended up at Nerinx as a sub when Holly and Michele were sophomores.
I drive Holly crazy, and she makes me laugh. It has been that way when she was 11 and surprise, surprise had a little bit of sass to her. And it is also this way all of these years later. Holly after she graduated from college, came and was one of our teachers at Aim High that summer. I knew I wanted to hire her, because she was my friend and I am always loyal to my students. I had no idea the care, prMIeparation, and professionalism she would bring to that job. I am so happy I got to see Holly be a teacher that summer. I know now when she talks about her kids and their games and their school that she is putting her best passion and care into what she is doing as a mother.
There are now just a few moments every time Holly and I meet where we talk serious like adults and check in on one another. We both always say we are okay, because we are. And then, back to the teasing and the taunting and all those conversations that give us joy. We have compiled a whole book full of stories that will make either of us laugh. Beavis and Butthead had an episode where the xeroxed nickels and tried to pass them off as money. Every time the clerk said it was just paper and no good, Beavis would slip him another paper nickel and say, "maybe this'll change your mind." Pure stupid humor, but I have said that so many times to Holly she would be rich if she would have kept my money.
Katie and I laugh because we are still good friends with about 3 girls on that first team. Katie got the nice one, Maureen and I got the two obnoxious ones, Holly and Mary Kay. I love the obnoxious ones, btw MK is not really obnoxious, but pleasantly goofy and was the perfect foil to HTG.
Somewhere in the middle of Holly's high school years, Michele started coming around. A sweet, smiling kid with a quiet demeanor. Holly set me straight later, "Michele is not that nice." It is funny how things evolved, but Holly found a guy and I got Michele and Leane and Sarah and we traveled together, told the same bad jokes, and went to an awful lot of Cardinal games or outdoor festivals or concerts. MIchele is flat out funny, but also tells jokes that you would not expect out of her. A classic misdirection so to speak, the nice girl told THAT joke.
Eventually our girls on our coed softball team all started having families and we were always in desparate need for more women. Then Holly and Michele and Mary Kay and Sarah and Leanne became the Dancing Moose lineup. Holly was the pitcher, she was a good athlete, but spent most of the game heckling the batters and the other team. Big strong boys did not know what to do when they were heckled by the small loudmouth pitcher. We became successful and won the title a couple of times. That is because we had St. Dominic Savio people and we only had to beat St. Gabriel people.
Michele went to seek her fortune in the big city of Chicago and has not really ever come back to St. Louis. She married and went to San Francisco and now lives in Philadelphia with two of her own children. I have to disagree with Holly and I think Michele is that nice, and she is currently devoting her time to her two little ones. It is such a joy to see her when she returns to St. Louis, and we all have work to do, because there is a fifty-fifty chance her kids might end up as Royals fans. So keep the prayers coming.
I could tell you all kinds of stories about these two, but when we tell them to each other we skip a lot of details. Simply because we know the stories. We could just sit around kind of like we did today and say Taco Bell, we are on the 5, and Potato. That would be enough. I have seen Holly laugh so hard she had to hold onto something so she would not fall. I do not know when this started, but at weddings, Paddy O's after a ball game, or any large crowd; Michele would act like she pulled a Hacky Sack out of her purse. We would then do tricks with our invisible Hacky Sack, including swallowing it and spitting out, and spins and all kind of things. People actually thought we had a HackySack. Holly hated when we did this and would "catch" the HackySack and "throw" it as far as she could. I would then usually run after it, often crawling under tables to get it, and apologizing to people as I retrieved it.
Michele always greets me with a warm and loud, "Johnny." One of my favorite greetings. Holly usually just smirks and gives me a half laugh, she acts like she is always annoyed to see me. I love it.
Old friends, they mean much more to me than the new friends,
Cause they can see where you are,
and they know where you've been. Harry Chapin.
Holly's dad turned 75 several years ago. Because it was Holly's dad and Holly we got the idea to tee pee his house. So I tee peed a house when I was over 40, and I am really glad about that feat. I am also happy when Bill Dame enjoyed it the next day as much as we did doing. This is what community looks like. Now both of them are just trying their best to be great moms for their children. I know they will be. And I hope someday 10 years or 15 years from now, I get a text from one of their children asking me to Tee Pee Holly's House (it is funnier than Michele's House).
I already have the paper bought.
No comments:
Post a Comment