Losing is never easy but it is an inescapable part of life. In fact, when all is said and done with whatever life you chose to lead, I can guarantee you’ll experience more losses than wins. But don’t fear this truth. Losses do not—and should not—mean the end of the world. They make our victories that much sweeter.

My youngest son has discovered the sport of tennis this summer. He’s absolutely addicted. I learned to play a little in college so I’ve become his practice partner. He’s almost eleven but I’m such an unpracticed newbie at this sport we’re pretty evenly matched. For the first few mornings, he and I just worked on trying to keep our volley return hits in the court and not over the fence. Between all the laughter and running our game improved. Finally, he told me he wanted to play a real game.

I agreed but needed to review the rules and scoring to refresh my memory. The first full game took all seven sets to decide the victor. He fought hard but I managed to squeak out the win. As his mom I knew better than to gloat, but he still wasn’t happy on the car ride home.

“We should have just stopped at the tie,” he said referring to the situation we had after the sixth set.

“No, there are no ties in tennis. Someone must win and someone must lose. Those are the rules.” I’m a big believer in not glossing over the realities of life, so I wasn’t going to do it here.

He finally sucked up his disappointment and the next morning seemed just as excited to play another game. Again, with our strengths and weaknesses so evenly matched, we ended up tied after the sixth set. The determination in his eyes as he fought to reach every shot I volleyed back was fun to watch.

It was a tight set, but he beat me fair and square in the end. He whooped for joy and jumped around—gloating like a child of almost eleven is prone to do. I didn’t mind, but if this continues, we might have to discuss the importance of being humble. 😉