Spring training

I love having a philosopher tennis coach.

Tonight, George said, "In tennis as in life, do not put yourself in danger."

He was referring to the right place to hit a ball. Get it in front of you or in the air rather than letting it bounce too close to your feet when it will put you in danger.

When we changed sides on the court during a hitting drill, I jogged over to the other side. George told me I was looking very bouncy. "I know, I'm in spring training," I said. (Even though it's still winter.)

I am feeling better, and my big news is that I haven't thrown up in quite a while. I have an appointment next month with a GI doctor, and I am definitely going to keep it, but I wonder if the digestive problem has corrected itself...or whether it's waiting to pounce. Just to be sure, I take a Compazine before I play tennis. I had coffee last week with a friend who I haven't seen for a while, and he told me all sorts of interesting things. And this was what I had to say: "I seem to have stopped throwing up." Hmmmmm.

I wrote before that I was asked to play in the 10:30 Friday easier group instead of the harder 9 a.m. group where I have not been playing well. I play with one of the 10:30 women in a summer group, and she's fun to play with. The other two women could hardly play at all, and one couldn't even keep score. It was tennis purgatory, and I told Michael I wasn't going to do it again. Instead, I am going to spend the next few weeks getting in better shape, and then I will try the 9 a.m. again. Towards that goal, I did a half an hour of cardio-tennis with Michael over the weekend. I asked him to run me around but not to kill me. He seemed to think that was a good idea.

If you are not a tennis nut like some of us are, you might think I take this too seriously. The reason I do take it seriously is because I see it as a barometer of my well-being.

I went to yoga on Saturday for the first time in a while. I was soooo stiff, and I still need to keep one hand on the wall in balance poses. I was getting kind of frustrated with myself, not like a good, accepting yogi. At the end of the class I talked for a minute to the teacher, Justine, about trying to get in a better frame of mind. She said to try seeing it as sending energy to the parts of my body that need it. Interestingly, I must have been doing that, because I walked out feeling very calm.

Yesterday's spring training consisted of galavanting and shopping with Katie in Northampton. We had lunch at the Haymarket, where I had one of my favorite dishes anywhere, their artichoke stew. The place definitely has a great atmosphere. It was damp and rainy outside but cozy downstairs in the restaurant with a candle on each table. When we went shopping for a dress for Katie, I turned into my mother, who always said, "Take two." It is fun buying your daughter things. I got myself some Swedish fish and a pair of yoga pants. I was "good" when we came home. I drove to the gym, where I rode a bike, did some leg presses and lifted a few weights. Maybe that's why I was bouncy today.