Making A Racket About A Racquet

(In the 70s, when I am in high school, my gym class teaches the fundamentals of tennis. I’m not in the least bit athletic, but something about tennis appeals to me. My birthday is coming up soon, and my mother asks me what I’d like for a present.)

Me: “I’d like a tennis racquet!”

Mum: “A what? But you don’t play tennis!”

Me: “I know, but my school introduced me to it, and I had fun. I’d like to try playing, but I need a racquet.”

Mum: “I don’t know. You’ve never been at all athletic, and racquets are probably expensive.”

Me: “Maybe we could get a used one that would be cheaper? I don’t need a good one.”

Mum: “We’ll see.”

(My birthday comes and goes, with no racquet. I ask Mum why; her response is a vague, “It would probably have been too expensive.” I am very disappointed. Several years later:)

Me: “I’ve started getting interested in [activity].”

Mum: “Ha! You won’t stick with it.”

Me: *insulted* “What makes you say that?”

Mum: *smugly* “Remember how gung-ho you were about tennis? You sure dropped that in a hurry.”

Me: “Uh, Mum? It’s kind of difficult to play tennis without a racquet.”

Mum: “Whatever. I’m just glad that I didn’t waste my money on something that you wouldn’t even have used.”

(What made it even more irritating is that, to this day, she brings up the tennis story as an example of how I don’t follow through on plans.)