Winterfest

    Rachel's first volleyball tournament was the massive, multi-day Winterfest in Hartford.  Two dozen courts filled the main exhibition hall of the Hartford Civic Center.  Early in the day, as players were warming up on both sides of all the courts, serving and hitting balls all over the place, it seemed to me like being inside a giant popcorn popper.  

    I thought this was clever, so I said it to a parent sitting next to me.  It drew only a thin, polite smile.  

    Still, I thought it was clever.  So I said it to a few other people over the course of the weekend, to about the same effect.  

    Eventually I stopped saying it.  Except this one last time.