A Lesson In Patience

Recently I visited to the beautiful shores of Presque Isle in Erie, PA to celebrate my birthday.  I visit this quaint little town yearly to soak up the rays on their one of their eleven pristine beaches!  It's a very relaxing, laid back couple of days devoid of the nagging, "We have to see that, we have to do that..."  Because frankly, there is little to be done, but just enough to keep things interesting.

But, that's not what this piece is about...

Last year I took up tennis - I love it!  I love it so much that I play it every day I can regardless of the weather.  So naturally, I did some Google research before leaving on my getaway to scout out the local tennis courts.  Luckily, Erie is a tennis town!  So much so that everyone plays tennis - everyone!  On our first day in town, the first two locations (12 courts total) we attempted to play at were packed!  While, I had a lengthy list of courts to choose from, my annoyance level was high and escalating!  "Don't these people have jobs - I'm on vacation, dammit!"

Now, these were really nice courts, courts I would have loved to play at, but that wasn't going to happen.  So, I picked a random court on my list and plugged it into Helga, Helga is my personal GPS system (don't ask).  Anyway, Helga took us into some very shady and questionable area of town.  I instantly felt at home because it looked like the backstreets of Cleveland, where I once resided.  My boyfriend on the other hand has never lived in Cleveland and was questioning my sanity and our safety.  Where the hell was Helga taking us?

This is where Helga was taking us!  A modest little, weed ridden tennis court overlooking the best view of my tennis life!  I doubt there are country club courts overlooking a view like this and this one was free!  While working on my backhand, I got to watch giant sail boats drift by and feel the gently breeze blow off the lake.  It was awesome and an experience that I would have missed had the other courts been available.  Who knew such a gem was tucked away like this? Great birthday present!

Patience, sometimes life leads us in directions we can't understand until we get there.