Feels Like the First Time!

After being injured for so long, and trying to heal on my own, resorting to seeking help and ending up with surgery, it felt like a REALLY long time since I had played tennis with another person.  Oh wait, it WAS a really long time.
I was really nervous about playing.  I was afraid that I would re-injure myself (a hobby of late) and didn’t want to go through the agony again.
My physical therapist (and tennis playing buddy) told me that I should start hitting.  My doctor agreed.  So I started out by hitting against the backboard. . . gently.  Standing close, I could barely hit it hard enough to bounce off the wall.  But it didn’t hurt!
Each time I went out, I increased the time I hit and tried to hit with a bit more force.  Scary times!
One day when I was hitting, my hand started hurting.  What the heck!  I had not only developed a blister but it popped!  It didn’t occur to me that I might get one of those!
So I packed up to go and wandered by a nearby court where my physical therapist was. . . and she suggested that I played a little in her place. 
The thought petrified me so I was happy to tell her that I had a blister and couldn’t do it.  She pulled out her handy athletic tape and offered to tape up my hand.

I played my first game of tennis in over a year.  It wasn’t pretty but it was a start.