Let's all take a trip shall we? Into the lives of a group of 10 - 12 people that started a friendly game of volleyball, and it turned into something far far greater than any one's expectations... A group of acquaintances that met every Tuesday during the summer for a friendly game of volleyball. The days seemed endless as we would eagerly await Tuesday night, but during that Tuesday at work, everyone always felt the same way, even though we all worked at different jobs. The Tuesday work day would drag on for what seemed like a week in itself. Although when the quitting whistle sounded, we were all bats out of hell to get to the McCauly apartments to start that Tuesday's round of games. You would pull off of Fields Ertel road into the apartments, always around 5:45 or 6 o' clock, and as soon as you pull in, you could see the bodies massing on the volleyball court, and the coolers open, and the smell of cigarette's burning like you had lived there and done this your entire life... You'd park the car, get out and you'd get your complimentary "what's up son?!?!" As you progress up the small hill to the court, you join in the group discussion, more or less an argument of who's going to be team captains until eventually someone gives in to save some of the sun that was slowly burning down...
Once team's were picked, we would grab one last sip of our now empty beers, take one last puff of the cigarette, and hustle to the court. On first introduction to the regular volleyball night, there was originally 6 or 8 people, but once more of us started inviting people, it grew like Fight Club. We would all come in, eyes wide and bushy tailed, and we eventually had 10 - 15 people that wanted to play. At this time, there was people that you had maybe seen at a party before that maybe you saw one to three times a year, and maybe had just said hello to once or twice, but when you were here, it was like you had known all of these people your whole life. We were just acquaintances off in our regular lives, but when we played volleyball, we were the best of friends... That slowly matriculated off the court toward the end of summer. Once we got done playing volleyball, and the night was in full swing, we all went home, showered up, and got dressed to hit up McCauly's Pub, and since that started, we have all become the best of friends, that with no doubt, will never be broken apart. Although some of it's original players have moved on, or have to work, or have other's in their lives that require more attention than volleyball can, we are all still out there... Every Tuesday night... Burning the midnight oil...
When I look back, when I'm much much older, sitting on my patio drinking an ice cold miller lite, thinking about when I was younger, those are the days that I'm going to sit and tell my grand kids about... About how something as simple as a weekly volleyball game, made a group of people that were just acquaintances into something far greater, a group of friends that will always be there for one another no matter what the outcome or odds... This group has inspired me to share this with everyone because I think everyone should get out there and find their own "volleyball game..." We'll See Ya
-8,401 people took up the sport of volleyball not knowing it was a metaphor after reading this...
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