Share Your World 2016 – Week 43

Here are my answers to Cee’s Share Your World questions for week 43.

What are you really glad you did yesterday?

I spent a good part of my Sunday outside being constructive, doing repairs and tying things up getting the house ready for winter.

I still need to trim back the raspberry bushes, check and clean out the gutters, and we’re waiting for the last of the leaves to fall to start raking those up.

Yesterday was a good start, though. Weather permitting hopefully everything else will be done next weekend.

Would you prefer a one floor house or multiple levels?

Our house is on two levels; the main floor and a finished basement. We split our time fairly evenly between the two levels, and at least for the moment, it works well for us.

I really don’t find the stairs to be a burden at this point so as long as my heart failure doesn’t get any worse, I don’t think we’ll need to move into a one level home.

Have you done something you truly want to do today?

Nothing special really. We tried a delicious new chicken recipe for supper with a yummy baby spinach, apple, and red onion salad. Does that count?

What plans did you have as a teenager that didn’t happen? Are you happy it didn’t work out that way?

I really didn’t have any concrete plans at that age. Dreams perhaps, but not realistic ones, and certainly no plans on how I was going to achieve them. I guess you could say it took me a while to figure out my path.

At one point in high school I thought there was a chance I might become a professional football player. I was pretty good, with above-average speed and even better instincts. During the two years I played I received a few letters from some U.S. colleges inviting me down to their summer recruitment camps.

After quitting football at sixteen I threw myself into tennis. I played a lot of local school, city, and provincial tournaments, having more success in doubles than in singles.

For some reason I kept the unrealistic dream alive until my mid-twenties that I could make a living playing. Despite holding down a full time job to pay the bills AND by then being a full time smoker (!), I’d still go off to try to qualify whenever a satellite circuit tournament was held anywhere within a days drive.

So this was 26-year-old me in 1990 at the Casio Open at the National Tennis Centre in Toronto.

Look – I had hair!

If I don’t look thrilled it’s because I’d just had my ass kicked 6-0, 6-2 by someone ten years younger than me 😦

I may not have realized it at the time but going all the way to Toronto with my doubles partner to get stomped in both singles and doubles was exactly what I needed to get my head out of the clouds and start making serious, more realistic plans for my future.

Looking back now I know I wasn’t good enough anyway so I’d say that it all turned out okay in the end.

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week was pretty relaxing and uneventful, which was a nice change from the few weeks previous which were fun but very hectic.

This week I head back to school, slowly chipping away at that diploma in photography I’ve been working on. The course I’ll be taking this semester is Portrait Photography. Not exactly one of my favourite subjects. I’m looking forward to it because it will be good to force myself out of my usual routine of landscapes and architecture shots and extend beyond my comfort zone.

Many thanks to Cee for running this challenge. If you haven’t played along yet, you might want to give it a try – it’s a lot of fun.