Getting There . . .

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born . . . and the day you find out why."

~ Mark Twain

This past Friday and Saturday I played some of the best tennis I have seen myself play in a long time. We were in the University of Alabama playing against strong teams that we would otherwise never have seen in our collegiate careers at Alcorn. Georgia State, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Southern Alabama, University of Alabama, UAB, Troy and more it was a very strong tournament and a chance for us to play with zero pressure. When we arrived from the moment we stepped on the court our new Coach Kersten made it very clear that our whole goal for the weekend was to have fun on the court while we play and do our best. There was no expectation on winning because it wasn't expected of us. We were the underdogs and the "weakest" at the tournament but we showed up. We beat Troy in two singles matches and my partner and I beat them in doubles while I took a set off of Georgia State and while I could have beat her my stamina by the end as it was my sixth match was burnt out and I couldn't pull through. It did show me that I am able to compete at that high level again and even more now mentally after the break I took which gave me the chance to get my brain focused again on playing because it is what I want to do!

The semester is slowly coming to a close and I am ready to be done but also dreading the passing of time. This semester has been the best one so far, between my girls who I am getting closer with every day and make my days so much fun to my video game dates with my sister and father I feel that I am enjoying myself more and more. I have also been exploring more and more of the states with my boyfriend, every weekend a different city, state and memory and while the past two years I was more at school this semester has been full of endless fun. Time is always a funny thing because it seems so slow yet so fast. Days can seem to stretch on forever but once its Friday it seems that no time has passed at all and while I enjoy growing up I sometimes forget to stop and breathe while I can. Enjoy moments while they are here with me and people while I have them, so these next few weeks I am trying to make them fun and light and full of memories before break!

Before I let you all go on with your days I wanted to bring up a curious idea to think about. As we all know I believe in Climate Change and its everlasting effects on the planet. This past week Jamaica was hit by Hurricane Melissa destroying infrastructure, homes and devastating the whole island. This entire year we have seen events at strengths never seen before in history. The European heat waves and extreme wildfire seasons in both Europe and the US, the monsoon floods in Pakistan, and several more hurricanes in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. All these events seem to be escalating at a rapid pace with no sign of slowing down. The world is getting warmer, winter seasons are becoming shorter while summers are getting longer and much hotter than years past and to me it is a little scary how fast it is changing. I want you all to walk away today not with a sense of urgency or fear because it can be scary but a bit more knowledge. We watcvh the news hear the events but are never taught why they might be happening. Whether you believe in the science or not something is changing in the world and it isn't right, isn't normal and will continue to get worse.

Thank you all for reading and see you next week!