October is Breast Cancer Awareness month!
What's up with me?
I am home! Being in California after so long (the last time being graduation in June) makes me so happy. The hardest part about being so far away from home in Europe is not being able to see my family and friends for such prolonged periods. It is different from college or living across the country for a job, but I would never change my time away no matter how long it was.
The focus while I am home for the next couple of weeks is to find a college. While I am communicating with coaches, applying to colleges, and figuring out what I want in my college experience I am learning a lot. There is a lot of writing involved with college applications, between essays both long and short, and emails I am learning how to tell my story but also how to advocate for what I want and need. Every conversation helps make my next one better, every application makes the next one even better. Feedback is one of the best things that I am receiving, both negative to learn from and positive to boost my confidence.
When I thought I missed driving the past two months in Europe my parents have already made up for it. After landing I have already driven two trips from San Diego to Los Angeles as well as a trip from San Diego to New Port Beach for a tournament. My mother had to do her chemotherapy and a biopsy this week with her doctor in LA, so I have been on driving duty which I will never complain about! When having a mother in the situation I do bonding moments become different, it isn't beach times or girls' trips in the Bahamas, our bonding times become laughs in hospital rooms, memories made on highways, and tiktok binges while waiting for results. But being where we are, I would have never seen it any other way. This month marks the fourth year we have been living with cancer, it marks four years of my mother's fight and success in defending her life. But as time goes on the battle becomes harder, drugs fail, chemo causes more damage, and slowly the battle scars become a little more visible. In tennis, we always say the match isn't over until you shake hands, and just like my mom, the fight isn't over until her smile vanishes. So every day we keep fighting, with her, for her, and because of her. Love you, mom!
This week I participated in a UTR tournament up in New Port Beach where I won my first match. I played solid and beat her in two clean sets, after driving an hour and waking up at 5. After about an hour and a half, I was out again and played another match and it didn't go as I had hoped. The girl I played was a beautiful player and was very solid both in her game and in her mind. I let my anger get the better of me and unfortunately only won a couple of games and lost in two sets. Getting adjusted to hard court has been tough on both my game and my body after being on clay for so long. However, it is my favorite surface and I am so happy to be back on it after all this time. While I am home I am going to be busting out as many matches and tournaments as I can before I head down to Florida for competitions and training which I am looking forward to.
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