MONKEY IN THE MIDDLE
I think I was called to be in the middle ... monkey in the middle. We used to play that a lot when I was young and lived in Western PA. Because I was always shorter than everyone else it appeared to be my destiny to be caught in the middle, always trying to stretch for a ball that others threw over my head. They knew I couldn't reach it and so it became amusing to them to simply throw the ball back and forth and keep me jumping...but that all changed when I moved to Philadelphia in 3rd grade in the 1960's. That’s when I met TED. Now I'm not referring to my dad...his name is TED also. But this TED was my physical education class teacher. The first time I had Gym class with this gent who stood all of 5 feet 5 inches tall I was in for a lecture. When I walked to the chin up bar I just stared at it. It was too far off the ground for me to reach let alone pull myself up if I had been able to reach it. And so the saga began. Each time I came to class my teacher would detain me after class for a few minutes, walk me over to the chin-up bar and hold me up until I managed to make a half and then a whole chin-up work. The next task was building my strength and knowledge of how to actually get a running start to jump and reach it...later while in high school I met another man who believed in me in the same way. Still quite a bit shorter than the rest of my peers in my church youth group I watched in horror as our youth pastor proclaimed that everyone in the Luther League was going to play basketball. Everyone. All eyes fell on me. " Even her? " they said in unison. YUP came the reply and again after all the rest of the group was gone the pastor whispered, "Can you come to the gym on Saturday morning?" YUP...and so it went. First I was taught that one has to use your greatest strengths to achieve the goal of making the ball reach the basket. For me it was 2 things. Leg strength, pushing up from the hips, and follow through making an arc, thinking about coming down from the top rather than reaching up from the bottom. After a bit of practice my shot was perfected. Then came the third technique--the element of surprise...YUP. SURPRIZE...gets you the prize. As most of the opposing team was thinking about who was dribbling up the center of the court I was on the side, playing "dumb blonde shortie"...all of a sudden the ball would come by way. I had to move fast before they caught on...and I was good! By the time the other team figured out where I was standing, I had already made my PRIZE SHOT! I have always been grateful to those who worked with me to teach me that survival is INDEED about being FIT...working mind, body and spirit together to STAY ON TOP of things. To this day when I hear folks joke about "having balls" I have to chuckle about that chin-up bar and my PRIZE shot. A few years back when I was in my 50's I was walking with my daughter, then a teen, by a Boys and Girls Club playing field. All of a sudden the ball came flying over the 16 foot fence intended to keep the ball inside the field. There it was...landed, YUP, right on my feet...well the old legend got moving...it took me 3 tries but it happened...it had been a while but with the arc, the biceps and the force of a thousand hips that ball arched up and over that high fence much to the amazement of neighborhood children who didn't know that OLD WHITE LADIES CAN JUMP ! I thank Creator every day for reminders that I am still in the running, that I still have my wits about me and that the key to survival often is proving to yourself and others that you CAN do something if you put all you have into it. ~ Mom Nanhi ~
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