By Jimmy L. Wilson, Jr.
For as long as I can remember I have been juggling three different relationships. These relationships started when I was a child, and the love has grown as I’ve gotten older. I love them all, but one is my “main girl”, one is my “side piece”, and the other is the “one I need to leave alone, but can’t”.
When I was little, they were tough to manage, but as I’ve matured, and learned the game, I’ve figured out how to balance the three. So, let me tell you a little about my three girls.
“The Main Girl”- This relationship started when I was a baby in a walker. There are pictures of me sleeping next to this girl when I was one year old. It was pretty much love at first sight honestly. As I got older, I began spending all types of time with her. Watching her on television as much as I could. Taking trips all over the city, state, and country to spend time with her. Her and I played in the backyard or went park to spend time together whenever I was down, or needed to think.
She has always been there for me. There were definitely a lot of ups and downs, wins and losses, and I almost left her for good during college. Through it all, my love for her hasn’t changed. I am even coaching youngsters about her ways now. Hopefully, they’ll learn to love her as much as I do.
“The Side Piece”- This relationship started pretty young too. However, the attraction wasn’t as strong as it was for my main girl. You see, I enjoyed watching her on television. Playing with her for fun with my boys in the street. However, I never fully pursued her.
This is one slight regret I have about my childhood. Part of me feels her and I would have been pretty good together, but my love for her wasn’t strong enough to find out. I didn’t want to lose my main girl for her, so I stayed away. She is still a dear friend though. I spend a lot of time with her during weekends in the Fall. Matter of fact, I’m counting down the weeks until she comes back to visit. She’ll be here real soon.
“The One I Need to Leave Alone, But Can’t”- This girl has been a trip to deal with. You see, she is the one that has almost phased herself out of my life on her own. She has been very frustrating to watch. Yet, whenever I claim I’m done with her, she gives me a reason to come back. She has the most personality of the three, yet she doesn’t come around as often as I like.
A lot of people I know disrespect her and ask, why I still deal with her? What they don’t know is, I don’t just spend time with her during the important times, I spend time with her on random Tuesday’s, and Friday’s. I have done this since I was a child. So, as much as her and the decisions she makes annoy me at times, I just can’t leave her alone.
So, that’s the story of me and my three girls. As most of you know, we as men talk about inanimate objects like they are women. Songs like “Me and My Girlfriend”, “Brown Sugar”, and “I Used To Love H.E.R.” are prime examples of that. Looking at the titles, one would think it they were about a woman. However, they were used to describe different objects. That is the approach I chose to use when telling you all about how I feel about basketball, football, and boxing. Those are the “Main Chick, the “Side Piece”, and “The One I Need To Leave Alone, But Can’t”. These are relationships that I don’t see going anywhere, anytime soon. People who know me, know I love talking about them. My goal is to make them entertaining, and give you all some insight into why I feel how I feel about them. I hope you all enjoy as I share my thoughts and feelings on them in these pages.
I’m Jimmy L. Wilson, Jr. and I approve this message..
Jimmy L. Wilson, Jr. is a writer who enjoys watching, talking about and playing sports. He coaches basketball at the Boys and Girls Club of Lansing. You can follow him on twitter @jimmylwilsonjr.
This was printed in the July 15, 2012 – July 28, 2012 Edition
