Thursday, December 21, 2006
Road Trip
This past weekend, the Spakowiak family packed themselves into the car and headed off to watch Maribel play basketball for the college that she attends. If you are a devotee of college basketball, you’d probably like to know which school she resides at so that you might be able to catch her ply her craft on ESPN. Alas, none of the so-called “big” schools opted to recruit my wonderfully talented daughter, so she chose one of our fine, smaller regional state schools that participates in sports at the level commonly knows as Division II.
I try to see as many as Maribel’s games as possible, although I will often have to miss the weekday games due to the interference of that mass of chaos knows as life. Life has been particularly hectic this year, so this was only the second game that I was able to attend. In the first game, her school played one of the large state schools which is in Division I, and the game was contested in the gym of the larger school. Even though Maribel played her heart out, and played rather well (she led her team in scoring and rebounding), the game was a complete mismatch. Maribel’s school lost by a score of something like 97 to 16. I may exaggerate the final tally somewhat, but not by much. To make matters worse, the home team’s fans made an ear-splitting din throughout the entire game, vociferously rooting against my beloved daughter’s side. It was painful to watch.
Because of that, I was somewhat nervous as to the quality of her team. They were playing another Division I school, however this team was from a much lesser school in terms of basketball prowess, and Maribel and her teammates were playing hosts. Still, I greatly feared another crushing loss.
My fears went unfounded, thank goodness. Maribel’s team has improved substantially from that earlier whipping. They were more organized, more precise, and much more spirited. Although it was a closely-contested game, Maribel’s squad was able to control the tempo throughout most of the game, and in the end they prevailed! What made a father more proud what the fact that his precious, fragile little girl played like a monster. She had 26 points, 14 rebounds, 8 assists (just missing the ultimate accomplishment, the “triple-double”), and 4 block shots. She brought the crowd to it’s feet on one memorable play when she blocked a shot when an opposing player attempted to score on a back-door cut and then, when another opponent grabbed the ball and shot, she blocked that one, too. She then out-fought another opponent for the ball and threw a long pass down court to a teammate for an easy layup. Her father was never more proud.
If you had thoughts of a sexual nature upon reading the term “back-door cut,” then shame on you.
Getting back to the story, even though the ladies, like the men, have adopted the longer shorts rather than the silly little shorties that were used when her father was in college. Despite this, I noticed that Maribel sported a red welt on the back of one thigh. Since I am aware of her tendencies toward spanking, I feared that perhaps she and her beau had “played” a little too hard at some point in time prior to the game.
Now, please don’t get me wrong. I don’t have an issue with Maribel enjoying spanking as much as her parents do, at least in theory. However, daddy will always think of his daughters as playful little girls with a pony tail and an ever-present doll or teddy bear, running up to daddy with affectionate hugs or sloppy kisses for any reason or even no reason at all. It still makes daddy cringe to know that, on occasion, she will be rolling around, naked and sweaty, with some man while he attempts to insert various portions of his anatomy into hers. It is even worse to think that of that person spanking her. Dads are funny that way. I’m sure that I’d have no such trepidations were I to have a sexually-active son. However, Maribel is an adult and her sex life is her business, so I vowed not to comment on the red mark.
Her mother, on the other hand, made no such vow. When we had rendezvoused after the game, Angela commented, “It looks like you have a pretty nasty welt on your leg. How did you manage to get that.?”
“Oh, man,” Maribel replied. “One of the girls was playing around after practice yesterday, snapping a wet towel all over the place. She caught me on the back of the thigh. Man, did that hurt! I could have killed her!”
Angela seemed to accept that as an explanation and the conversation moved on. I figured that if Maribel’s story was good enough for Angela, then it would have to be good enough for me.
Maribel could not come home with us since the basketball season is on-going, so she has to stay at school to be able to attend practice. They have another contest on Saturday, then she’ll come home for a few days for the holidays. Her visit will be brief, however, as she will have to return when practice resumes the following Wednesday. I’m sure the visit will be pleasant. Maribel has matured considerably since starting college, so the days of constant family-teenage conflict seem to be in the past.
I miss being able to see Maribel every day. She’s always been an active, confident kid. Not an angel, mind you, but fun. The house has one Angel anyway. I’m trying to enjoy my youngest daughter now, since she’ll be starting college and moving out entirely too soon. At that time I’ll probably officially consider myself old, and I’m not ready to be old yet. For now, I’m going to just savor my fantastic family.
Of course, with no children in the house, Angela and I will be able to exchange spankings any time that we wish. And that, too, will be fantastic.
I try to see as many as Maribel’s games as possible, although I will often have to miss the weekday games due to the interference of that mass of chaos knows as life. Life has been particularly hectic this year, so this was only the second game that I was able to attend. In the first game, her school played one of the large state schools which is in Division I, and the game was contested in the gym of the larger school. Even though Maribel played her heart out, and played rather well (she led her team in scoring and rebounding), the game was a complete mismatch. Maribel’s school lost by a score of something like 97 to 16. I may exaggerate the final tally somewhat, but not by much. To make matters worse, the home team’s fans made an ear-splitting din throughout the entire game, vociferously rooting against my beloved daughter’s side. It was painful to watch.
Because of that, I was somewhat nervous as to the quality of her team. They were playing another Division I school, however this team was from a much lesser school in terms of basketball prowess, and Maribel and her teammates were playing hosts. Still, I greatly feared another crushing loss.
My fears went unfounded, thank goodness. Maribel’s team has improved substantially from that earlier whipping. They were more organized, more precise, and much more spirited. Although it was a closely-contested game, Maribel’s squad was able to control the tempo throughout most of the game, and in the end they prevailed! What made a father more proud what the fact that his precious, fragile little girl played like a monster. She had 26 points, 14 rebounds, 8 assists (just missing the ultimate accomplishment, the “triple-double”), and 4 block shots. She brought the crowd to it’s feet on one memorable play when she blocked a shot when an opposing player attempted to score on a back-door cut and then, when another opponent grabbed the ball and shot, she blocked that one, too. She then out-fought another opponent for the ball and threw a long pass down court to a teammate for an easy layup. Her father was never more proud.
If you had thoughts of a sexual nature upon reading the term “back-door cut,” then shame on you.
Getting back to the story, even though the ladies, like the men, have adopted the longer shorts rather than the silly little shorties that were used when her father was in college. Despite this, I noticed that Maribel sported a red welt on the back of one thigh. Since I am aware of her tendencies toward spanking, I feared that perhaps she and her beau had “played” a little too hard at some point in time prior to the game.
Now, please don’t get me wrong. I don’t have an issue with Maribel enjoying spanking as much as her parents do, at least in theory. However, daddy will always think of his daughters as playful little girls with a pony tail and an ever-present doll or teddy bear, running up to daddy with affectionate hugs or sloppy kisses for any reason or even no reason at all. It still makes daddy cringe to know that, on occasion, she will be rolling around, naked and sweaty, with some man while he attempts to insert various portions of his anatomy into hers. It is even worse to think that of that person spanking her. Dads are funny that way. I’m sure that I’d have no such trepidations were I to have a sexually-active son. However, Maribel is an adult and her sex life is her business, so I vowed not to comment on the red mark.
Her mother, on the other hand, made no such vow. When we had rendezvoused after the game, Angela commented, “It looks like you have a pretty nasty welt on your leg. How did you manage to get that.?”
“Oh, man,” Maribel replied. “One of the girls was playing around after practice yesterday, snapping a wet towel all over the place. She caught me on the back of the thigh. Man, did that hurt! I could have killed her!”
Angela seemed to accept that as an explanation and the conversation moved on. I figured that if Maribel’s story was good enough for Angela, then it would have to be good enough for me.
Maribel could not come home with us since the basketball season is on-going, so she has to stay at school to be able to attend practice. They have another contest on Saturday, then she’ll come home for a few days for the holidays. Her visit will be brief, however, as she will have to return when practice resumes the following Wednesday. I’m sure the visit will be pleasant. Maribel has matured considerably since starting college, so the days of constant family-teenage conflict seem to be in the past.
I miss being able to see Maribel every day. She’s always been an active, confident kid. Not an angel, mind you, but fun. The house has one Angel anyway. I’m trying to enjoy my youngest daughter now, since she’ll be starting college and moving out entirely too soon. At that time I’ll probably officially consider myself old, and I’m not ready to be old yet. For now, I’m going to just savor my fantastic family.
Of course, with no children in the house, Angela and I will be able to exchange spankings any time that we wish. And that, too, will be fantastic.
