How cute are these ladies?

These are a few of the great ladies I've been playing racquetball with on Wednesday morning for the past  30 years!  

How crazy is that?  I started playing over at the Redwood Multipurpose center not long after we moved into our home.  Some ladies from the ward, Barbara, Peggy, Tina, Sherry, Marsha and Carla and Terri all started playing about the same time.  We were all starting from scratch and I was about as uncoordinated as they come.  Ruth taught us all how to play and even though I wasn't very good at it, we had a lot of fun and it was about the funnest way I'd ever found to exercise.

There's only a couple of those ladies that still play racquetball and the Wednesday morning league has evolved with many different great friends over the years.  Playing racquetball became more than the sport and turned into a fun time to get together and talk.  These ladies became some of my dearest friends. 

Susan is one of those gals that's been there from the start.  We raised our families at the same time and would always be aware of what was going on in each other's lives.  She's got to be one of the most kind hearted, giving people I know.  Her and her husband are very involved in their church and in serving those in need in their community.  She always remembers everyone's birthdays and other special events in our lives.  She has such a happy energy, it's just a joy to be around her. We've gone through a lot together and she's just one of those special people that you know will be your friend forever.

Pat is another special lady who is really one of my heros.  She has a lot of health problems and scoliosis but is still going strong at 70.  She has the most positive attitude about the challenges she's had and just life in general and a great sense of humor!  I know she plays on Wednesday morning just for the socialization because she can easily beat any one of us any time she wants.

Lanice is another racquetball friend that I've come to love over the past few years.  She is a really good player too and plays mostly with men, but comes on Wednesday for the social time too.  She has been through a pretty rough time this last year with cancer and then other health complications.  A lot of times she wouldn't feel good enough to play, but would just come to visit.  She's going through chemo right now so we've all been praying for her.

Marsha has been coming to racquetball lately and it's been so fun!  She's been one of my dearest friends for as long as I can remember but when she moved, we just didn't get a chance to see each other very often.  We've stayed close over the years but it sure is fun to be able to talk to her about every week now.  In fact that's about all we want to do so when Ruth sends us in to play a game and we end up talking instead of playing and she comes and looks in the window and gives us the eye cause we haven't started playing yet...haaaaa we don't even care!

I love when Stacey can come and play too.  She usually works on Wednesday, but when she has it off, she will always come.  She can jump right in and play really well even through she hasn't played for weeks.

Jamie is a die hard racquetball player.  She has come a long way from when she started.  She is one that wants to play right though and will practice shots over and over till she perfects them.  She is always up for a game and comes early and stays as long as anyone will play. It's really paid off for her and she is one of the best players now. She's also just a great lady.  She hasn't had an easy life but has overcome much and is a strong smart, positive woman.  She has just recently got a new job teaching Japanese at the University so she won't be able to play on Wednesday anymore.  We were all so happy for her when she told us because she has been wanting this for a long time, but we'll sure miss her.

Rosemary is another gal I've sure grown to love over the years.  She has played sporadically because of some pretty serious health problems, but when she does come, we always have a good chat and catch up with each others lives.  Our kids have grown up and gone through a lot of the same things at the same times so I feel like I know her family too.  She's very real and doesn't have much of a filter when she talks... I think that's why we get along so well!

I could write a whole post about Ruth.  She has been there at Redwood long before I even started playing racquetball.  I remember her teaching  swimming lessons there that I took Katie and Camille to.

Ruth has not had an easy life.  I won't go into details here, but just say that my heart goes out to her for the hand she has been dealt.  I know that there are reasons why people are the way they are and there are always experiences and choices that have brought them to the place they are now.  The more I learn about Ruth's younger life, the more I can see why she is the way she is now.  This last 6 months have been really hard for her as she's battled an eye infection that would not go away. It was really bad.  She couldn't even open her eye for many weeks because it was so swollen. I've never seen her so low.  She would take it out on us at times but I've just felt so sad for her cause I know she's just miserable. Racquetball is the happy thing in her life.  She's really good and plays on several teams and with her eye infection, she couldn't even play so I know that has been really hard for her. Anyway, Ruth is the rock at racquetball. She runs the whole program and she's always there.  She has always been a good friend to me and Kelley too.

Anyway, I was just thinking this last week when we were taking this picture how grateful I was for the relationships I have with these different ladies and how they have touched my life and have become some of my very dearest friends.