Praise

Brand new hammock, nice warm day, one fine nap... Interruption from a pre-schooler. Last Sunday I was attempting a sweet siesta in my newest piece of patio furniture when my next door neighbors decided to teach their grandson how to play tennis. You'd be surprised how rowdy retire-ees can get when they are teaching sportsmanship to their 'babies'. Before long I was getting slightly 'annoyed' with their antics and really wanted to ask them to use their 'inside' voice (which would have been entirely inappropriate, so I restrained) until I actually LISTENED to what they were saying.

"Cody, wow! Great Job Bud!"

"You're swell! Watch out Wimbleton!"

"Awesome! You are doing SO good."

At this point I curiously peaked over the fence and there stood Cody standing still as stone while his grandparents weakly tossed bright yellow balls that fell dead off his stationary racquet. I was shocked... surely this kid was not even remotely close to any sort of trophy, yet by the sounds of it, this child was the next tennis equivalent to Tiger Woods!
Naturally I couldn't sleep after this, so my mind began to ponder the points of praise. Cody must have felt like a million bucks. (If you can truly 'feel' anything as a wad of cash )
What if we were to treat everyone like a Champ? What if we were as liberal with encouragement to adults as we are to children? What if we applauded the people we would normally take for granted? I believe the world might be a very different place. Just a thought. Good work Cody!

(I have a feeling, my new hammock may be the source of blog inspiration for many more of my cheesy entries.)