My parents were sweethearts. Beyond the fact that they loved each other, they simply delighted in being together. Yes, they had their own individual interests and hobbies, but they never tired of each other's company. Simply put, they had the most fun when they were together. I'm sure it was that joy my mother wished for her newlywed friends.
About a month ago, my husband said to me, "I miss your mom. It's that time of year when she would have been asking me to make her a March Madness Bracket." He was right. My mom loved basketball...and football...and baseball. In fact, she loved most sports. But that wasn't always the case.
My father was athletic and played a variety of sports as a youth. As an adult, he loved following local sports teams. After retiring from the military and moving to California, those interests intensified. Even though my dad still held a full-time job, my parents' outlook on life was more relaxed and it was easier to find time to attend local games and follow more sports on the television. Watching those games, on the television, was more fun for my dad if my mom was with him. He knew that televised sports didn't really hold my mother's attention so he became determined to change that fact.
One of my mother's favorite hobbies was doing puzzles. She loved jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, number and word puzzles. If it challenged her mind....she loved it. My father was well aware of that fact. So, one spring day, in the middle of baseball season, he brought home a baseball scoring card and taught my mother how to keep stats during the game.
She was hooked! And it wasn't long until she kept stats on all the sports they watched. If there wasn't an official scoring form, she made her own. My mother became the unlikely expert on RBIs, pass completions, and points scored. And for the rest of her life, scoring games, was one of my mother's favorite activities. Was it because she truly loved the process of watching the puzzle of the game unfold? Or was it the memory of all the days and nights she spent sharing the games with my dad?
It has been said that a successful team is made up of unique individuals contributing different strengths towards a common goal. My parents were different in many ways but they were alike in so many more. And that common goal? To make the most of every moment that they had together. They were definitely a team and somewhere in the middle of championing one another's differences and making togetherness a priority, they became sweethearts forever.
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