Nat

I played tennis tonight–singles, with an old friend who hasn’t played much recently, but who is an excellent athlete.

We are very evenly matched, and we worked hard for 90 minutes to tie one another at 1 set each. We both hit some good shots, and we had a good time. I had been nervous beforehand that he would be so much better then I , that he’d be bored. But he wasn’t, which was nice.

It’s hard for me to explain why even modest athletic achievements make me feel so good. All I can guess is that I don’t get to compete in sports much anymore, and I really loved how hard we both ran down balls and tried to win.

It took awhile, but I was laughing throughout. Games are supposed to make you laugh. Ours do, and for the first time in years on the tennis court, I felt that I could become a decent player. It’s a terrific world.

Rick Reilly’s column at the back of Sports Illustrated is quickly becoming my favorite feature writing in sports. Clearly, Reilly has a big heart, and he often writes human interest stories that show sports and athletes at their best.

This week, he writes about a high school student in Everett, Massachusetts, who has loved basketball more than anything in life. Sean Cronk, a 17-year old, lives with his disabled mother in a housing project. He also has cerebral palsy. I won’t ruin the story by telling it, because Reilly writes it with pathos and warmth, and I want you to buy the magazine to read it and then keep the clipping.

Sports are big, big money, and many people lament that big time commercial sports have lost touch with what drew so many of us to sports as children–the chance to compete, to push ourselves, to learn teamwork. Reilly never forgets that what makes sports great is great people participating in them.

Please read the article about Sean Cronk. You’ll be really glad you did.

I’m exhausted at the end of this work week. In part that’s because we lost an entire day to extra air travel, but it’s also that I chased after many goals without exercise and without meeting them all.

I should know by now that I always feel rotten at the end of a week during which I don’t work out. Still, by the middle of the week, I tell myself that I’m too tired to get up and go to the gym. So I didn’t. But I’m going tomorrow. It’s a small promise to make to myself and one that makes me feel good.

On Friday night, we usually go to bed without setting an alarm. Such a small thing is cause for cheering. Tonight I’m too tired to cheer. Just write and go to bed. It feels pretty good.

And tomorrow’s a fresh start.

I was thrilled to read in USA Today that LeBron James, the basketball superstar, announced after the NBA All Star Game this weekend that Microsoft(R) and he will launch a new web site for kids and teens. The site is designed to inspire young people to push themselves to succeed. It describes how he overcame struggles and hardship in his own life. It will post challenges for kids to tackle and let them chart their progress, and it will allow LeBron to comment on how to meet challenges.

The web site is called LeBron.msn.com, and it should launch this week. James has a well-publicized interest in working with young people, and this is a great way for him to reaqch a very broad audience.

James’ web site is a great example of a person’s using his celebrity as a platform to help young people achieve. It’s fantastic to see the websphere devoted to such a promising purpose.

Good for LeBron.

We’re on vacation this week, and the two best parts of vacation for me are anticipating it and experiencing it. My ambition is to find in my everyday life the same level of expectation for it that I feel when looking forward to vacation.

How do we learn to look forward to every day as if it were special? I’ve been studying my attitude about vacation to help me learn. On vacation, I get to choose what I want to do in what order. I get to spend more uninterrupted time with my wife and stepdaughter. I exercise more. I read more than usual. I go where the weather is good and usually where the sun shines more often and more brightly.

All of those things make me happy. I could work to include any one or more of those elements in each day. Sounds pretty simple.

What would make every day a vacation for you?