Today was a gorgeous day. Mike put the net up and he asked me if I wanted to play tennis. Of course, I didn’t. I never really WANT to play. I force myself to go out there because I know I should. I know it’s good for me. And it’s good having something fun to do with Mike. The irony is, that once I get out there, I do enjoy it. It’s just all about the motivation. What motivates me is not the joy of tennis or the joy of exercise. It’s the shame of being lazy.

So we’re out there on the court and Mike said he loved being in the sun. He said this while I was inching over to the one shady spot on the court, which was mercifully on my side. I told him I loved being in the shade. That’s so typical of us. Opposites. I do recognize that being in the sun in moderation is a healthy thing. I stood there considering the opposing attractions of sun vs shade and I had a flashback to when I was about 14. I had a little turquoise two piece bathing suit, and I would lay out in the sun on my patio in the back yard, trying to get tan because that’s what Seventeen magazine said we should be doing. So I would lay there until my tummy started quivering from the heat. And sometimes I would look at my reflection in the very small basement windows, which were at the same height as the chaise lounge chair I would be laying on. And I would see myself laying there in my bathing suit, and try to decide if I was attractive or not.