Love, Doubles, and the Very Real Risk of Testing Our Marriage

There comes a point in every relationship when you start wondering just how well you really work together.

Jan and I have already tested our relationship in several ways.

We’ve traveled together, which involves airports, delays, hunger, and navigating unfamiliar places. We’ve played Overcooked together, where apparently chopping virtual vegetables under pressure can reveal someone's true character. We've hiked the country's highest mountains together and dealt with exhaustion, hunger, and pain. We’ve also gone through illnesses, which requires no further explanation.

And yet, somehow, it’s always been easy with Jan. So we decided to do something far more dangerous.

We’re joining our first-ever pickleball tournament together.

We’ll be playing Mixed Doubles, Novice category—which sounds innocent enough until you realize that we will be standing on the same side of a court (it's honestly easier when we play against each other), making nano second decisions, and having absolutely no one else to blame but him us when things go wrong.

I’ve joined a pickleball tournament once before, but Jan wasn’t my partner then. So this time is different.

People say communication is important in a relationship. Well, apparently, communication is also important when a tiny plastic ball is flying toward us at an unreasonable speed. We’ll need to figure out who takes the middle, because that’s where things tend to get tricky. Is the ball mine? Is it yours? Or do we both hesitate for half a second and end up watching it bounce right between us?

Because this has happened a lot of times, and the next five seconds are usually spent in complete silence, looking at each other. Yes, we don't fight. But I’m pretty sure both of us—or at least I—try our best not to let our intrusive thoughts win (or my eyeballs roll). Haha.

We have simply given ourselves a front-row seat to each other’s competitive personalities and I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.

Anyway, today is exactly six days before the tournament and this is stressing me out more than I'd like to admit. 

So I'll just keep in mind that the goal is to play well, learn something, and hopefully remain happily together by the end of the day. Haha.

Anything beyond that is a bonus.

A medal would be nice, though.

Wish us luck. And possibly moooore patience.

Our weapons for the incoming battle.