A sporting chance

Seeing as I’ve been involved (playing/attending) with sports in the area and in observing how participation in such has effects on some of our social structures, I’ve been giving the issue a little thought...

Somebody remarked that if their boyfriend wanted to be gone every week on their rest day for several hours (there and back and playing) of sports, they wouldn’t be so pleased, seeing as it’s their only day together. Somebody else had said that when two people are into the sport, once a child is thrown into the mix, such things need to be negotiated and rotated, much as some parents alternate sleep-ins.

Okay, well, the sleep-in thing I definitely agree with. Haha.

I had started out by making some remark about how it’s much more important for the guy to participate in sports, but, apparently, this isn't a common viewpoint. I’m not a very competitive or competent person, when it comes to sports. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy playing as much as your average guy does (?), but maybe that’s why it’s easy for me to see myself being the one who would skip. Besides, guys always have so much more excess energy to burn, don’t they? Or maybe I’m just, essentially and at heart, one of those women who knows their limits. Hahaha, haha, ha. I crack me up! :D

No, but seriously... I was trying to think of some of the females I know who were into sports, at my last place... and whether or not they’d be able to “go without”, in deference and preference of their man. I’m not saying this is the required attitude across the board and the only measure of excellence in one’s womanhood/wifehood/motherhood, but I was just giving the whole issue some thought. There is one woman I can think of right now, in particular, who is rather sporty, but I’ve seen her take the back seat in all that... I don’t know how easy it is for her to do that. Maybe when the kids are older and if there isn’t another one on the way, she can take the front seat again. :) Or maybe I should’ve taken the kids for her, at times, so she could play –- hrm...

Anyway, I guess when it comes down to it, everybody’s different, one picks their battles, people learn how to negotiate and work out/in what’s important to them, tempests come and need to be navigated, and all of that is life.

I also realized I can’t project how I might act and react in that situation, because although something seems logical and easily figured out right now, the tables might be spinning very differently were I to find myself with sports being my only outlet and time away from ministry and domestic life (and/or half of the "quality time" I would otherwise have with a significant other).

Or maybe, just maybe, I really am that type that, while it lasts, I’m plenty happy and happily enjoying the good sport and sporting life, but, if the time comes, I will stay home, take the child(ren) on playdates, roam the city in the good company of an infant, put on an apron and prepare energy-laden food for returning tired bodies, all while Mister X expends his energies on fun and games.

Haha, now ain’t _that_ a hilarious thought: “domesticated Ange”.

Hey! I wouldn’t laugh too loudly, now -- I'll show you "domesticated"! :D