Ever since the fourth grade, I was on the basketball team. I spent all summer in the gym practicing with just a few other girls who were just as committed as I was. We went to team camps, and played on travel teams, we did fundraisers, we were always doing something for basketball. Even when school started and it wasn't basketball season, we'd still have open gym and conditioning to prepare for it before it started... and even after it was over, we were back in the gym and working at it again!
When I got to high school I was put on the varsity team during my freshman year, and I played four years of varsity -- which is kind of cool to say I guess. My senior year I won MVP and got an honorable mention, so I was pretty proud of myself.
But the very last game that I ever played in was this past March, and it was a close one. My two best friends who were also seniors played as well, and we were dreading it because we didn't want it to be over. Well, when the final buzzer of the game went off, I felt like dropping to my knees and balling right there in front of everyone. Basketball was my life, it had been everything I'd worked for up until that point. And now it meant nothing.
We cried in the locker room and even while I was driving home, I had to pull over because I was balling. Ever since then, the thought has been in the back of my mind of how much I miss it... but tonight, I have to watch my sister's first basketball game. I'm going to have to sit there in the stands and see what it feels like to not be able to play. I think it's going to break my heart and I'm going to hate every second of it. Someone please shoot me now.
But, I have to go. I don't think I'll be around much to see my sister play basketball at all during her senior year, so I have to support her while I can. And I know that now that I'm done with high school, it's time to move on to something bigger and better. I mean, I guess I'll be playing on Team America now that I'm joining the Marine Corps. But that still doesn't help the fact that I miss basketball, I miss my old team, and I miss high school.
Let's hope this game goes by fast.
And I know a lot of you guys are out of high school, if not all of you. What is the one thing you really miss the most about it?
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