Afghans on the Tennis Court by Jaysen O.

What makes an item truly special? It is the place you obtained it from? Is it made by a person you hold dear? Items hold countless memories and feeling from us, making them special. Whether they have financial worth or they are just an unforgettable memory, the items we hold closest to our heart are the most special, the pieces that hold our most wealth.

The two different shades of green imprinted on the homemade afghan sits folded on my bed. It is an ocean showing the shallow and deep waters separated only by its own waters. The yarn woven, wrapped together my father made this wonderful work from his own two hands, and I’ll hold onto it until the day I am no more. During the single week that he made it, I occasionally watched him weave the yarn together with great accuracy and speed, and he didn’t miss a beat. Everyday he worked at it, never stopping, believing that one day it will be finished. When it was completed, though the simplicity of it was simple, it was something that someone made just for me, and I’ll never forget that. The Style and the fact that my father made it isn’t all that I’m happy to have this for. For the simple reason why it’s been made: It’s used for warmth. During the winter I have thicker comforters to use, but I enjoy my afghan as well to warm up in autumn and winter too. It’s one of my most prized possessions. It was made especially for me, there’s only one like it, no other material possession I have can be like the afghan my dad made.

Two days of heat, altogether 10 hours of watching, running, and intense competition. The summer tennis tournament I made it to this past summer was the highlight of my summer, despite it was at the end. But during that time, it was the best part of my summer. Watching the intense competition with my friends, running around practicing, it doesn’t sound like a lot of fun watching, but when I got out on the court, it’s a whole new world. The Sun was always beating down on our faces, it messed a lot of things up, but it’s all apart of the big challenge of the major summer event. Adrenaline was everywhere. While you were running, you had to remember to step with the right foot, the aim of your racket when you hit the ball, the fact that if you miss the hit, even by a mere inch, it could cost you the game. The First day was horrible, the sun was intense, no food for the hours that we were outside, it hindered our skill on the court, my partner and I did extremely badly.

Even though we also lost the second day, we were a lot more proud of ourselves. The last match of the day, my partner and I were totally in sync, and our strategy was practically flawless. The way we carried it out, however, got the best of us. The final Set, in a deep second tiebreaker with the opposing team, they score, we score, they score two more times, we pass their score, and they catch up. It seemed like this would never end, my partner and I doubted our ability to go on, but the adrenaline, the support of our other teammates kept us going. It was us with a score of twelve, them with a score of thirteen, the last couple of seconds on the game, our hearts were beating so fast it felt like they skip a few beats every few second, the opposing team hit a lob, my partner says he got it, it hits, and it swerves over to the right. “Out,” they called. We weren’t disappointed. It was a good, long game, and we were relieved that it was over. That concluded the summer tennis tournament, and the best time of our summer. Even the next fifty tennis tournaments I play in can’t compare to the first summer I made it to the tennis tournament.

Both my homemade afghan and the tennis tournament are both important to me. The differences are, my afghan can be lost damaged, or stolen, whichever one it may be, that’s bad. I can still lose my memory of the tournament, but it’d be much more difficult.

But I have my afghan as a financial item because it’s a concrete item, but I couldn’t put a price on that. I can’t put a price on my memories, no matter what. So Even though there are many differences between two items I hold close, I couldn’t ever get rid of them, under no means.

So, what does make an item truly special? It is simply the fact that even if you had 1,000 of that item, that one, if it had some significance, even if it helped you complete your homework, than that item will always be apart from the rest. In my case, my first tennis tournament is special because it was my first one and I did better than I thought I would have. My afghan is special because my father made it for me. That’s what makes items special.