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October 22, 2008 |
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DON'T THINK TOO MUCH - JUST PLAY
FOUND by Byron
in St. Louis, Missouri
Found this while browsing at a used book fair. Wish I could remember the name of the book it was hiding inside, but I didn't want to buy the book, so I put it back, but kept the note (score!). It's a sweet note from a mom to her kid, a sort of pep talk before some kind of sports match. It sounds as if the kid is having some anguish borne from her athletic experience, and the mom feels compelled to give her some advice. The part at the bottom? A somewhat less emotional birthday greeting (from a different writer?) for "JoJo," who reminds the writer of Judy Blume's "Fudge." "Don't think - just play." Very Zen.
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We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework,
to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles -
anything that gives a glimpse into someone
else's life. Anything goes...
ok, it is a sweet note, but the first two paragraphs made me want to alternately roll my eyes and gag. In fact, I thought the author was making a joke and expected to read: "if you think you can, you can"; "it doesn't matter if you win or lose as long as you play the game"; "go hard or go home", etc
but the mom is being supportive and the thought is nice.
Well, at least there won't be any question about Byron's description being attached to the correct Find....
are you sure you don't want to throw a few more cliches in there?
"it's not about winning or losing it's about how you play the game" maybe?
or "there's no 'I' in team"?
but it is a sweet note. and since the girl put in in a book and kept it(until the book it's self was sold anyway)instead of just tossing it after reading, implies that it meant something to her. which is all that counts.
Yeah, yeah...all the sugar-coating sounds so nicey-nice (as aforesaid, almost gagworthy in its sweetness) but it kinda slips there at the end. "No matter what-you are a great daughter!" Mom just can't help admitting reality here--her kid is a klutz who desperately wanted to be on the team anyway, in spite of the ridicule of her fellow teammates. I smell girl's softball--and softball players can be very cruel to the "bench managers." "Have a can-do attitude" sounds dangerously like she can't actually DO. If she could, the admonition to "make memories" would be unnecessary.
Poor Amy. I hope Mom took her out for icecream after, at least.
Hang in there, Amy.
Signed,
Kitty dangling from a tree limb.
There are clearly two different authors here. Mom write sappy cliche note (which is not inappropriate for a 7 year old) and Dad (or sibling) ads the top and bottom pieces.
Obviously the kids spends a lot of time on the bench and is depressed about it, or thinks that her parents would somehow be more proud if she had more game time. Some kids just have extraordinarily (or unreasonably) high expectations of themselves. God bless her parents for trying to get her to relax and enjoy.
Awwwwww...show them where you live Amy!!!!!
Oh, come on. Everyone knows "can do" needs to be hyphenated.
or set aside in quotation marks at the very least.
Some of you guys are overanalytical M-F'ers. "Don't think too much - just play."
field day?
There's no "T" in team?
P.S. - Don't forget to use a condom!
Try? There is no 'try'. Just 'do'
Yoda
@ Hiplainsdrifter is right on target!
This note was the one that Mom tucked into Amy's suitcase just before Amy left for her honeymoon. She wanted Amy to see it first thing.
Unfortunately, though, Amy had never read the book that was suggested in pre-marital counseling. (Her summary about it said simply "I don't know Anything about this book.") Amy could barely read. Her high school had actually been just across the parking lot from a strip club. It was pretty distracting.
Anyway, being barely literate she wasn't able to understand the note when she saw it two days into the honeymoon upon finally opening her suitcase (she was looking for spare change so she and her new hubby could get some deliciousness at the Toco Bell across the street). So she left it on the nightstand of the motel.
Rita, the maid, picked the note up when she cleaned the room. She used it as a bookmark in the copy of "Swann's Way" that she was reading while she vacuumed the carpets at the motel.
At least mom didn't say to give 110%. Seriously, what's up with effort inflation? I can only give 100%.
I guess it comes down to lowering your standards: Maybe what they mean is give 110% of what you normally give, because normally you only put in 90%. Of course, you'd still be 1% short.
On a similar theme, why did mom use only double underlines? If everything is double-underlined, nothing is double-underlined. Or something.
C'mon! What is with everyone today? I think this is a sweet note-- why's everyone so bitter? I wish my mom would have written me notes like these; even if it is sappy/cliche/whatever, it's something that would probably make me feel better if I was worried about a game.
@ A girl- I'm with you!! While working in the public school system, I saw way to many parents who couldn't care less about what their kids were doing. Now I work with pregnant teens and hear some pretty sad stories. I wish those girls had a mom like this one!!
oops- too
Agree...I think this note is really sweet and makes me happily reminiscent of my mom I can totally picture saying the same things.
Nice.
This could have been a note that I wrote when I girls were playing team sports.
Don't think too much - just play is pretty much my motto.
As a matter of fact, I think I'll blow off work and go...
@ girl in a cube. Don't you get it??? Bitter, disillusioned and petty is what we do here.
@Librarian--seriously clever!
love the smiley face under the exclamation point. <gag>
that's not a smiley - it's two turntables and a microphone...
and the way -Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner - But he knew it wouldn't last.
No presssure, then.
@Hiplainsdrifter--That's where it's at!
This is an inspirational message to Amy on her first day of work at Tchotchke's (hence the bullshit "team" reference).
Mom totally blew it with the parentheses at the bottom. What a punctuational train wreck. Ever heard of brackets, lady? Not to mention that jo-jos taste absolutely nothing like fudge.
wow, this hand-writing looks almost identical to my mom! except my name isn't Amy, I live in Canada and my mom doesn't dot her exclamation points with smileys.
hey, same here, mlm, except my mom wouldnt use that kind of paper, is left handed, and wouldnt use such sappy, heart felt, false sentiments. Other than that, its exactly the same.
sorry, mlm, that was directed at mommy?
More importantly - jo jo means 'uncle' in Mandarin Chinese.
This wasn't a sports competion. The author's daughter was in a MATHLETES comptetion that day. Go team.
Quick - somebody get this message to the Phillies before tonight's game.
don't think just play
mom,
thanks so much for making me 'have fun' playing basketball. i am 4 feet 7 inches tall! all i 'can do' is sit on the bench. i missed the part of the scoreboard where 'team' is scored.
i'm glad you love me, but you're only proud of me because i don't tell you anything that i do. ummm... about that 'no matter what' part? i'm addicted to coke, i have syphilis and i'm pregnant with 'fudge's' baby.
love,
amy
ps you're a great mother!
“As Gregor Samsa's sister Amy awoke one morning from uneasy dreams she found herself transformed in her bed into a 'can do' type of individual.”
There is no "I" in team, but there is an "M" and an "E". Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona, bought some Californian grass - Get back, Jo.
Here in NZ (where Rugby is KING) we have some great sporting sayings: "Well, uh, it wuz a game of, uh, two halves, but, uh, full credit to the other side. At the end of the, uh, day, to cut a long, uh, story short, rugby was the, uh, winner on the day."
@Girl in a cube this has nothing to do with this Find, but I'm dying to know: what exactly was it that you didn't like about "Le Morte D'Arthur aka The Death of Arthur aka King (freakin)Arthur?! Sorry, but how can you not like King Arthur!?
*pant pant* (calm Smallbear calm,it's ok if she doesn't like one of the greatest stories ever told, one that's been retold hundreds of time for maybe a 1000 years,for God's sake there's even Monty Python Broadway musical version, Every hear of 'Spamalot'!! *pant pant* calm down Smallbear calm down don't get excited, Girl in a Cube is entitled to her opinion....)
Really Girl in a Cube, all foolishness aside, I'd love to know. :)
Cloying platitudes aside, I'd like to know more about JoJo, and whether she actually tastes like fudge, and if so, how does Amy's mom know.
Deeper plot here, for certain......
All I want to know is if alan goes "pting" in Joe Strummer's head what does Joe Strummer's head do to Alan? That's all I need to know.
Cagey, I have been wondering the same for months.
Alan is secretive, it seems.