Ladies’ Day at an Invitational

by Jeanne Baseman

Whatever it takes to get here, we say,
Drop our kids at the bus or the school.
Forget the banking and groceries today,
It's a Ladies’ Invitational and we came to play.

So what if our spouses don't understand.
“Sorry ‘bout your day, hon, but mine was just grand!"
The dog's in the crate, the cat's on the run,
No dinner awaits them, the laundry's not done.

We don't care if it rains, snows or sleets,
And we'd never leave without paddle hut treats.
We wouldn’t stop a match at 5 to 4,
We just couldn’t go home without knowing the score.

Not long ago I was playing “Ann The Grand”
She was awesome, as always, at home in the forehand,
We were winning at the time, with a 5 to 2 spread,
When Ann took an injury right to the head.

"Oh my, you're bleeding... let’s stop for the day.”
"You must be crazy,” Ann said. “I’m here to play!”
Well stay she did with her angel from heaven...
You guessed it folks, she beat us 5 to 7.

Where else could we have so much fun being hurt
At your place or ours, whomever's court.
Call us crazy and stupid, even sadistic.
We’ll argue any day with the law of ballistics.

Last week my son took sick to the school nurse,
“No answer at home, or the car,” he said with a curse.
"We'll find her," said the nurse. "It's only a chest rattle."
"I know," said he, “but you know she’s playing paddle!”

We love it, we hate it, we can’t do without it,
We get angry and upset but we’d never quit.
If you live in the suburbs you must be in a league
Or we’d have to have affairs to replicate our fatigue.

It’s good to see everyone -- teammates and friends --
We must make a pact to continue this trend,
Is there anything better than a daytime invitation?
How else could we have so much fun with retaliation?

We play and we play, making many compromises.
And everyone knows we’d kill for those prizes
Whatever it takes to get here we say...
It’s a Ladies’ Invitational and we came to play!