Basketball Practice: Variations on a Theme

During basketball practice, I spend most of the time looking down at my phone rather than watch my kid’s every move. I feel bad about this, but I try to watch the important parts.

Glancing up, I see the kids running, dribbling, shooting, passing, traveling, shouting, laughing, and looking up farther I see the old windows of the community center, a former elementary school. The gym was renovated over the summer, so the peeling paint and holes in the ceiling and walls are gone.

Elsewhere in the old building you’ll still see missing floor tiles, sinks and fountains with no water, fraying carpet, holes and stains. Outside you’ll still see the seperate entrances marked Girls and Boys, as well as rusted gutters and fallen drainpipes. Rumors are always going around that the place will be shut down because at this point it’s too badly neglected to be repaired.

Looking down, past my phone, I see the old floor of the stage on which I sit each week. I am a part of the scenery, along with other parents, coats, and water bottles, as little sisters and brothers tread the boards.

Sometimes I think of my old elementary school, which had a similar multi-purpose room—our gym, cafeteria, and stage, was the same space used for dismissal where we lined up for the buses each day. In first grade I was in a play about the seasons and I got to walk across the stage with my slicker and umbrella while I spoke about the rain in spring.

Once we had an assembly about Earth Science and the performers told us all about global warming and the shrinking ozone layer and acid rain. “It will be up to your generation to fix it,” they said.

Fix it? I don’t think we’re doing a good job.

I read the news on my phone and feel bad about it, and I try to pay attention to the important parts. Rumors are always going around that the place will shut down once its too badly neglected to be repaired.

I hope we find a way to fix it and save what must be saved.

Variations on a theme

The Delaware Water Gap

The Delaware Water Gap helps form the border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This is where the Delaware River has been busy carving through the Kittatinny Ridge for more than 400 million years.

The gap itself is about a quarter of a mile wide near the river, but about a mile wide at the top of its two sides, according to park information. The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, a 70,000-acre park, allows visitors to explore this natural wonder in many different ways. The park celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.

“Created by Congress on September 1, 1965, Delaware Water Gap was established to preserve the natural, culture, and scenic resources and values of the Delaware River valley and provide opportunities for recreation, education, and enjoyment in close proximity to the most densely populated region of the nation,” according to the park’s website.

Keep left for the Appalachian Trail

The Appalachian Trail passes through, along with more than 100 miles of other hiking trails. People visit each year for hiking, boating, swimming, picnicking, biking, fishing & hunting, exploring historical sites, and for special events.

When I was little, my family went to this park for hikes and later for backpacking. After he retired, my dad walked through on his journey to complete the Appalachian Trail in its entirety.

The gap is also significant to me because from a young age it was a marker for my sisters and me on our family’s long drives to Ohio to visit my grandparents several times each year. After about an hour of driving through New Jersey, we would pass through the gap into Pennsylvania’s miles of endless oblivion, with the promise of nothing to good look at and nowhere fun to stop.

This was where the real journey began. Would we ever make it to Gramma and Grandpa’s, or would we succumb to whining and madness? Would we find the strength to behave ourselves in the backseat, or would the sport of sibling taunting bring out the bullies and the tattle-tales in us? Would we push mom so far that she would tell us we weren’t allowed to get a happy meal?

As a child, I didn’t appreciate the panoramic views of the gorgeous rolling farmland, mountains, rivers, valleys, unspoiled wilderness and all that the beautiful state of Pennsylvania has to offer. I only knew it was 6 hours of impossible boredom. And it all started with the ancient and enormous Delaware Water Gap.

Last year, I made three trips through the gap when my Gramma got ill and when she passed. Grampa has been gone for years, and the time had come time for Gramma to complete her long journey. Those were the last of the visits to Gramma by way of the Delaware Water Gap.

Finally, in summer, I drove to the gap and stopped there for a couple hours of peace and tranquility. A walk through the park was what I needed. The sounds of the water rushing over rocks calmed me as I watched the creek flow past old rhododendrons and hemlocks. They have been growing since I was a kid. Probably before. On the ground, ferns bobbed on breezes under tall trees. Summer’s sunlight and heat was diffused by the forest. It was perfect. Just like it’s been for the past 400 million years.

H is for Horizontal

The horizontal branches of pine trees make for perfect climbing. So close together, easy to grab, small yet strong. As a kid, I was always climbing trees, often going up high enough to scare myself.

Ascending, using my own strength and the living playground supporting my body, was thrilling. How high could I get in this one? How high do I dare go? Would I climb so high that I turned into a bird (my childhood wish that I probably held onto for too long)?

Only one way to find out.

***

I’m participating in the A to Z Challenge for the month of April. The idea is to post every day, except Sundays, and end up with one post for each letter of the alphabet. It’s a good challenge to help me to blog every day.