Wow. My old college friend David is on his way back to Chicago tonight after a weekend visit to my home.
We played tennis on Saturday morning, basketball at Brookens Gym on Saturday night, jammed guitars after basketball in my music studio, more tennis on Sunday morning, followed by playing catch in a field on Sunday afternoon.
The tennis matches were just as competitive and fiery as a decade ago. I admit I was expecting to cruise past David in tennis due to my physical conditioning and having practiced a bit the past 2 months.
However, on Saturday morning I found myself being blitzed by good serves and an array of better shots. I quickly fell behind 6-3, 6-4. We were playing a best of 5, and I was trying my best to not give up hope after dropping the first 2 sets. The day was getting warmer, and the humidity was high. My only flicker of hope was David faltering in the heat. My wish came true as the beginning of the 3rd set saw a decline in consistency and fight in David. He began to labor as I cruised to a 6-1 set victory. The 4th set I continued the comeback and won 6-4. David then summoned his fighting spirit and we battled even to 5-5, the winner having to win by 2 games. I thought of the recent Wimbledon match that went 70-68 in the 5th set, but we did not come close to that marathon, as I fought to a 7-5 set victory, taking the match 3-2.
In the evening we played one on one basketball, and I wish I had practiced shooting more in the previous months, but I played hoops at Brookens only 2-3 times in the past year, so I held out little hope of victory, as David plays in a Y league in Chicago. I lost the game 11-7, but it was an intense workout, we were both sweating and tired after it was over.
When we got home David played some songs on his Martin acoustic guitar, and then asked if I wanted to jam with him on my electric. We went into my music studio and I told him I had never played with anyone before, so I did not know how I would do. He began playing some rhythm riffs, one being Led Zep's Stairway to Heaven, and I found jamming to his rhythms similar to playing along to Buddy Guy on the stereo. Once I found the correct key all I had to do was play any combination of notes from the 5 patterns of the pentatonic scale. I did pretty good, and although my technical lead skills are minimal, I feel I am slowly improving. David was complimentary of my play, and I once again thought of my original plan to jam with Joseph and his girlfriend. I am still at least a few months away from doing that, but I am gaining more confidence with each passing month.
David gave me a gift of a Robert Johnson blues book which includes all 29 of his songs with tabs and chord diagrams. He also gave me a cool looking slide guitar thingy which fits on my fretting finger to allow slide guitar play. I am looking forward to learning how to use it.
After playing Rachel pulled some home made cinnamon rolls from the oven and eating the warm sweet rolls were quite a treat.
Sunday morning we decided to play the deciding match - it was considered even, 1-1, me winning in tennis, David winning in basketball. The humidity was high, but the heat not as bad. We decided to play a best of 3, as we did not want to overextend our level of tennis fitness. Realizing that David has superior tennis skills, I decided the best strategy was to attack relentlessly to throw him out of his comfort zone. I rushed the net constantly in the first set, and came away with a surprising 6-1 victory. David fought back in the 2nd set, taking it 6-4. We fought even in the final set, taking it to 7-7, until David finally pulled away for a 9-7 victory. The points were longer and more fiercely fought than the previous day, and although we played 2 less sets, the amount of time spent on the court (3 hours) equaled the time spent on Saturday.
When we returned home David had Rachel distribute the winner/loser gifts. David had his wife and kids buy gifts for the winner and loser of the tennis match, and they were wrapped with numbers written on them, "1" and "2". I opened my "2" gift and found a beautiful stone with the word "hope" engraved on its smooth surface. There was also a stone candle holder. I jokingly said to Rachel and David, "this stone says "tough luck loser, better luck next time". David received a similar stone with the word "strength" engraved on it, and a black metal victor's necklace.
After more guitar playing from David we went out to the Wiley School field and played catch under the hot noon sun. Soon after David packed up and returned to Chicago. We decided that I would visit him in the autumn for a rematch on his home turf. He stole home court this time, so I hope to do the same.
It was great seeing David - competing, jamming, talking and laughing.
