Business: Play Tennis Personal: Keep Quiet

2013 Wimbledon Championships....

My love for all things tennis comes from my Mother.  This was something that I grew up watching with her back in the days of John McEnroe.  He was one of the most "aggressive" (I say angry) players that I remember watching.  But he was good!  Tennis was good for me before we got the Williams' sister's.  Mom's favorite males were Nadal, Roddick, and Federer and she liked the Williams girls and Sharapova to name a few.  

Since losing her, watching tennis was too hard for me because that was her thing.  When a tennis match was on I would call and ask her if she was watching and I would hear her "talking/screaming" at them through the television...question answered..."YES" she was coach-watching the matches.  Federer was her guy and boy would he get it if he didn't listen to her direction.  Happy memories....

Today I am watching the championships with one of my daughters and while watching one of the female matches, I made a comment and my daughter said "you sound just like Grandma; she used to say the same thing." That made my heart smile :).

Now my rant about Serena and Maria.  I saw bits and pieces of the Pre-Wimbledon press conference between the two of them and I will say that based on what I saw Maria needs to learn what professionalism is.  She needs to learn when to "hold them and fold them."  Business is business and when you make personal comments about someone to hurt them and put them in a negative light with others, the light usually shines on your character and what you are really made of.  

To hear Maria say that Serena has so many positive things going on in her life and she needs to speak to those things but since she wants to get personal, she needs to speak on her relationship with a married man/father who recently left his wife.  Now in Serena's interview she never stated who she was speaking of, so to make the assumption Maria makes you look like an..... Are you looking to be offended?  That is the way it appears.  Why bring her relationship into the interview?  It makes you look bitter and draws peoples perception of you into a different direction.

The business at hand is tennis...so let's play.  Don't bring such an ugly thing into this because while you were playing this morning, I did not want you to win (personally speaking).  However, I know this makes for what people consider "good entertainment" and from a business standpoint, you need to win so that Serena can "thank you" on the court personally!

Now onto morality, I would hope that Serena is not the reason why Patrick Mouratoglou and his wife are separated.  

I think that my Mom would agree with my take on what is going on right now.     Ladies be ladies and do what you do....play tennis!  Represent women in sports better than this.  I appreciate the fact that Serena did not attack Maria during her press conference and mentioned that she did apologize to Maria PERSONALLY for her being asserted into her situation by this reporter.  Maria the better thing to have done is be gracious, accept her apology and if/when asked about the article, advise the press that you and Serena have already discussed the matter and have put it to rest...no harm no foul.

~I am my Mother's Daughter~

Finding My Way Back.....

Today is Thursday, June 20th and I am on a journey to rediscovering the things that I used to love.  In life we face many trials, obstacles, and losses and those things sometimes rob us of the things that bring us so much joy.  Two years ago I lost my Mother who had become my best friend and confidant.  She was "my person" (stolen from Meredith Grey and Christina from Grey's Anatomy) and when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer, our lives changed.  We were in this together.  Losing her was by far the one 'last' thing that sent me over the edge and I "checked out."  I stopped caring about myself and the things that make me happy.  My temper and patience were on a short fuse.  My emotions were all over the place.  I was seeing myself say and do things and would say "is that really me?"  Truly having an out of body experience and for the first time I could understand what people meant when they said this.

I stopped taking care of myself physically.  I truly didn't care about anything anymore.  When my children were younger, I loved to cook.  I loved to try new spices and create new dishes.  My lineage is filled with women and men that were chefs and bakers.  My maternal grandmother was a chef and so I guess it is a part of my DNA.  After my divorce and other challenges, cooking no longer was fun for me.  I had begun teaching my children to cook when they were mature enough to be in the kitchen and handling the stove and utensils appropriately.  My older daughter "my person", was now responsible for all the meals in our home.  

Within the last 7 years, I may have cooked 5 or 6 times.  The last time I cooked was when my nephew moved into his first apartment and he wanted me to make my famous baked spaghetti dish for him; which I gladly did for him with love.  My joy was not back in full measure, but I was more than happy to do that for him.

I have been preparing to cook since Monday and today I just got up and did it!  I made a spaghetti dish using Morning Star Crumbles, mushrooms, sweet peppers, garlic, diced tomatoes, and 100% whole wheat pasta.  It was awesome!!! My Ipad was plugged in and my Mellow playlist was going, kitchen cleaned, dishwater in the sink, and I felt like myself again.  I cooked and cleaned simultaneously, which is how a real cook does it ;).

I wanted to cry and I still do.  For me this is a huge step in loving myself and the things that make me feel inner joy.  

~Nothing will work if you don't~Maya Angelou