Tuesday Night Therapy

Carmelitta Tiffany

By CARMELITTA TIFFANY

mcp.com columnist

It may be called an all-American pastime, but to me, it’s much more than that.

Every Tuesday night, five middle-aged ladies congregate at a local venue to throw a big plastic ball at ten two-foot tall pins. We’re called the Jensen Construction team, and we usually struggle to stay off the last place bracket. We always arrive with hopes for a good night, and sometimes we are rewarded. We have good games, and not so good games, but we always come away winners.

Why? Because we have a bond that cannot be duplicated. I will attempt to explain it in as clear a manner as I can.

The bowling team

We have been meeting like this for at least 10 years, and I am sure that we’ll be doing it for another 10 years. Some of the other teams in the Tuesday Night Women’s League have bowled for decades together, until they physically had to give it up.

We witnessed each other change throughout the years – hairstyles, weight loss (and gain), new grandchildren, wrinkles, and the like – even a new pair of eyeglasses never goes unnoticed during our Tuesday nights together.

We’ve cheered as we see each other’s children grow up, consoled those whose parents passed away and whose marriages dissolved and offered help when a teammate had back surgery or needed advice on a good contractor to hire for their roofing project. Of course, we gossip, what group of gals doesn’t? But it’s all in fun.

Although two of the ladies on the team are flesh-and-blood sisters, we pretty much consider ourselves sisters in every other sense of the word. We listen intently when one of us has a problem, whether it’s a husband who won’t take out the trash or kids who won’t take out the trash, or a situation at work, and there are always kind words of advice (sometimes not so kind, as well). We can say anything we want about life without fear of reprisals from our sisters, and there are lots of giggling, laughter, and even tears around our table.

We’ve dressed up for Halloween in pretty silly outfits, enjoyed Christmas together with gift exchanges and a little holiday drink, and make sure to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day.

Now we’re in the midst of a serious situation, with one of our sisters suffering a sudden and severe loss, and we have all stepped up to offer our help, prayers, and advice to make her life a little better until she can return to a normal life.

When spring comes and the end-of-the-year banquet brings us together one last time until Fall, we smile and know that we’ll see each other again. Same place. Same Tuesday nights, at 6 p.m.

It’s the best therapy, physical and emotional, that you can get for $13 a week. I plan to continue my therapy until I come to my senses, which I hope will never happen.