Not so fast for 11, 12, & 13 -year-olds looking for the pill

Maine might not produce the shear amount of newsworthy stories as its' larger neighbors to the south, but that all changed earlier this fall when the Portland School Committee voted to allow nurses at King Middle School to dispense birth control bills to its' students, who range from 11 to 13 years old.
Suffice to say, there was a fair amount of outrage about the decision and the story quickly caught the attention of every major news network around the country. Everyone from Dr. Phil to Pat Robertson jumped into the debate and now it seems the committee members, who were not up for re-election a few weeks back and favored the measure, may now lose their seats.
A group of Portland citizens recently finished a petition drive to force a recall election for the aforementioned committee members. And while the vote still stands, it seems like the dominoes are beginning to fall for those in favor of providing the pill to these youth. Morality issues notwithstanding, it seems that Maine's primary might be more newsworthy for who is not running as opposed to who is. And yes, people will also choose their parties choice for presidential candidate as well.

Now how do you hold the tennis racket?

The rain held off just long enough for Jules and me to hit the tennis courts at Deering Oaks for the third time in the past couple of weeks. Perhaps this doesn’t seem significant to anyone reading this, but tennis is a game of pride. It’s also a game that can really only be played well with lots of practice. I know some may disagree, but tennis is not like riding a bike. You can’t just get back on the court and start hitting inside-out forehands and the like. Hell, if it there that east, we’d have played everyday.
As I sit here in front of the computer screen, I have to chuckle a little as I picture one of my forehands sailing into the fence about 10 feet behind the baseline on the other side of the court. Meanwhile, Jules takes winds up for a forehand, steps into the ball, swings, and then looks around everywhere… moments later she notices that the ball is stuck in the V of her racket. Why, because that’s what happens when you haven’t play in years. Quite frankly, it’s ugly, especially when we each talk about how we were successful (minimally in my case) tennis players at earlier ages.
And yet the lack of consistency or grace on the court has been enough to detract either of us. Now and again Jules would crush a cross-court forehand winner that caught me in stride. Likewise, I too, had a few well-placed backhands, which eluded her reach. I think that now we’ve gotten over the fact we aren’t going to win anymore tournaments (at least not for a while…) or get lots of free gear and the like, we can play for the enjoyment and have found a common exercise that for so long was so much a part of our lives.
Of course there is that competitive spirit that burns inside each of us. And although we’ve yet to record a point, I find it hard to believe that will last too long.