The Adventure of a Lifetime

If you don't watch tennis, you missed something amazing this weekend.

Andre Agassi played his final professional match, at the US Open. He knew this would be his last tournament. He'd been telling fans and the press for months. He's 36 years old, ancient for a professional tennis player. His back is giving out on him, but he loves the sport and the New York crowd, he had to make it to one more Open.

Last week, he played one of the most magical matches I've ever seen--finally winning in five sets while he was visibly hurting. Wowing the crowd until after one o'clock in the morning. It was a career defining moment. Then he had to come out Sunday to play again, and his body just couldn't take it. He lost to an unranked player in four sets, but to everyone watching he was a winner--The Ultimate Winner--in every point, because he got himself to the court and gave the crowd what they'd paid for one last time. Afterwards, tearfully, he talked about how much the fans and the sport had given him. How they'd given him the adventure of a lifetime.

You have to undertand that Agassi is probably the most important American player in modern tennis history. I can't image how many kids have grown up learning to play because they wanted to be like him--my son included. He's given us twenty years of giving everything he had to the sport (at least, since his comeback in the late nineties, when he didication and determination came sharply into focus). But all he could see at the end of his career was how much everyone had given him. How what defined him wasn't how many times he'd won or lost matches, but how many fans, peers, and press were on their feet cheering when he struck his last ball.

The thought for the day...how much do we get back from the people and places that are most important in our lives? How grateful could we feel if we took the time to reflect on that every day? How much more amazing could our the journey be, if we could step outside of ourselves and our goals more often, to be humbled by the impact we're making in the world around us?

You, my online friends, are such a part of what makes my writing career worthwhile, I didn't want to miss the chance to share that. One week to go on this deadline, and coming out here is one of the few parts of my day that makes me smile. You remind me why I'm working so hard to make this story the best it can be. You're one of my adventures of a lifetime ;O)

Okay, enough with the mushy tennis fanatic stuff!!

We need another RWA conference prize--how 'bout oodles of Harlequin books (many of them signed, including Debbie Macomber's ;O), and one of the nifty bags they gave away to attendies???


To secure your chance to win, leave a comment between now and next Tuesday.





And we need pics of the two additional prizes from last weekend's "what's wrong with the TPR cover" scavenger hunt!!








Don''t ask me who gets what (the goodies are already boxed up), but Sandra and Jennifer each get one of these lovelies I found as I was cleaning out the prize closet.





Carol was the first to comment about the mistake in the hair color, so she gets the great XOXO bag!!

You never know when we'll have another scavenger hunt, so check in as often as you can ;O)


I'll be posting a new website prize later this week, as well as the winner of the last one. I'll let everyone out here know out here when it's done. The newsletter's probably going to have to wait until after this book goes in, though...gotta focus...gotta make Bailey and Derrick's story great!!

Congrats to all the blog winners. All the prizes are going out today or tomorrow, so let us know when you get them later in the week!!! That includes the last two giveaways, too. My "shipping department" is finally back in town and working hard ;O)

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!!