It’s August. After a cold, dry winter the countryside is golden and skies are faultlessly blue, but not for long. The sun is blazing, winds are picking up and all it’ll take is a spark – intentional or not – for this moisture starved land to burst into flames.
We have just gathered for our annual family tennis tournament. One hundred and fourteen years later, even though the family is scattered all around the globe, a small contingent still pitch up with tennis rackets and anticipation for the new memories we will make.
Many of us only spend good, quality time together on this one weekend of the year. Children who’ve never met but have the same blood flowing in their veins look at one another in surprise: “I thought you were just a random guy visiting, but oh-my-days we are cousins!” The thrill!
Sometimes families get starved of moisture too. Connections dehydrate. The busyness of life results in brittle relationships. Like the kindling of this land, kinship is just waiting for someone to strike a match.
We play the match and it lights a flame.
Partnerships are created. Affinities are formed. Memories are made. We play together, eat together and go on drives together. We all stand anxiously in the passageway (and by the closed window outside in the dark where an owl is making weird sounds) trying to break in when one of the little ones locks herself inside and falls asleep.
According to one of our patriarchs, “Family Tennis is about learning to do as you are told.” There are rules and the older generation enforce them. It’s not a bad idea in a world where new ideas might sound liberating to begin with, but in the end we all experience the nostalgia of doing things the good old fashioned way.
The thing about flames, whether they burn through the land or through our family, is that not long after all the scrub has been swallowed up by them, green shoots burst up through the ash. A setting that was once tired and dull is transformed. Land and hearts, both, energized, refreshed and inspired to continue strong. Growing with all the vibrancy necessary for a fresh start and a new season.
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