I Thought You Were Gonna?

Four Ostriches were getting together to play Pickleball this afternoon. The four had been looking forward to this day all week. The four had heard so much about pickleball and how fun it is and they were excited to participate in the new trend.

All four Ostriches arrived at the Pickle Ball courts around the same time. Each even brought their own racket as they were pretty certain they would love the game and want to play a lot more than just today.

“I can’t wait to get going!”

“I’ve been looking forward to this all week!”

“I’m all stretched and even had a little extra breakfast this morning, let’s get started!”

“Hell yeah! Let’s do it!”

They all stood in a circle, amped up, ready to go, looking at each other, waiting for someone to lead them onto the court and teach the rules and get this show on the road.

It became clear no one knew the rules of Pickle Ball

“Really guys?” Said the first Ostrich, “Again?”

“How does this keep happening?” The second Ostrich added.

The third Ostrich threw down his racket in frustration.

“This is the third freaking time and the third freaking activity where we all show up excited and no one thought to learn the rules!”

Everyone stewed in their quiet disappointment in themselves and each other. How can these four keep being friends after they have failed to participate in activities together all because no one takes the responsibility to ensure they can actually do the activity.

“To be fair, I thought you guys were going to learn the rules, so… This doesn’t feel like my fault, just saying,” chimed in the fourth Ostrich, like a scamp.

“Shut up Marvin!”

“Marvin you never do anything!”

“I’m going to learn the Pickle Ball Rules then get them printed on the bottom of my shoe, then beat the rules into you!” Said the third Ostrich.

This week they planned to play Pickle Ball, but no one learned the rules. Last week they wanted to go to a concert, all showed up, but no one had bought the tickets. The week before Marvin invited everyone out for a boat ride but when they all met at the dock discovered Marvin didn’t own a boat and had no access to one but just thought it would be cool if they could all hang out on a boat.

So the animosity towards Marvin was certainly harsh, but not terribly unprovoked. I mean imagine showing up to the docks on a day you thought you were going to be riding around on your friend’s boat only to learn there was no boat and you made 15 peanut butter sandwiches for everyone for nothing.

But still, this left the Ostriches upset and truly questioning why they even try to spend time with this group of friends. If nothing they try to do together ever happens how can they even really be considered friends?

Who would believe them? Someone asking:

“Hey, what do your friends like to do together?”

And then answering:

“We’ve never done anything together.”

How does that make sense?

“Guys, I think if we’re going to remain friends we need to do some serious friendship therapy so we can get on the same page,” said the first Ostrich.

“Absolutely.”

“Couldn’t agree more.”

Even Marvin could see that they needed professional help and agreed to go to friendship therapy with everyone else.

“Does this time next week work for everyone?” Asked Marvin.

Everyone concurred.

“Great everyone, see you then!”

“Cool see you next week, fellas!”

“Looking forward to it!”

“Have a good week y’all!”

And they all went home. Excited about the therapy session next week.