The Birthday Curse of the US Open.

Dear Fellow Blog Readers,

Sorry for the brief hiatus. I thought it would be good for me to regroup my thoughts and memories to bring some fun reading material for your enjoyment. As today is actually my brother's birthday, I would like to first congratulate him on his special day. He has truly provided me plenty of life lessons from his own experiences. As much as we had our sibling rivalries at younger ages, we have grown to be a very close family and nothing can change that, even with the addition of his amazing wife! (You know who you are.)
With all the cute "lovey dovey" portion of the blog taken care of, let's get down to the "nitty gritty" of it. Today I will be sharing snips of the past two years and what has gone down during my birthdays. I love my birthday and I embrace getting older (even if it comes with aches and joint pains from my workouts). I love to share my birthday with all my friends and acquaintances. It just so happens, that my birthday, which is on August 24th (Don't forget it!), always falls during the US Open tennis tournament.

Being an avid tennis player in my youth, I always love having a chance to go watch the matches. In my teens, I used to work for Wilson Sporting Goods every US Open tournament. It was a great time to have access to the grounds and watch matches during my breaks. I actually met my first crush/fling while working there. Young romance, you know how that goes, always ends in heartbreak. Well, this guy and I had kept in touch through the years. From time to time, he would reach out and check up on me. And me, being naive, I would always play surprised and would gladly go out with him to reconnect and see if that spark still existed. (Low and behold, it did.) Two years ago, we reconnected after a few years of hiatus. Being older and more mature, I thought I would let my guard down and just let things happen. I was finally coming to terms with just letting destiny take its course which, being a Virgo, is not in our normal nature. If it was meant to be, than let's give it a shot. All I asked from him was honesty and trust and the same went for me. We managed to grab some tickets to the US Open on my birthday. I thought it was a sweet gesture. We went together reminiscing of the fun times working together at Wilson and sitting court side to some of the best matches in history. As the evening progressed, it was getting late. We both had work in the morning. In the middle of Serena Williams match (which she was clearly dominating her opponent towards victory), we decided to head out a bit before it ended to beat traffic. As we are walking out of the stadium, he drops a line saying, "I really need to talk to you and say something, but I am not going to." WHOA WHOA WHOA. WHO SAYS THAT AND DOES NOT SAY WHAT'S ON THEIR MIND? I obviously became defensive and was now super curious to what he could possibly tell me that I may or may not know. I pushed it out of my mind and was for sure going to hope he brings it up in the next few days. We continued walking towards the car and then he goes on to say, "You know what, I am going to take the train home. I'll talk to you later." At this point, I was at a loss for words. I was powerless. We kissed goodnight and I walked to my car and headed home. Days, weeks, and months went by with not a single word from either one of us. I reached out one evening and never heard back. I knew what this meant as it did every time before that. He met someone else and moved on.

Last year, I had reconnected with another old tennis buddy of mine. It had been about 13 years since we last truly saw each other. It was so interesting to see him all grown up and a man, not a boy. He set the ground rules early saying we should just stay friends. I have had plenty of male friends and kept it platonic so why not hold to that this time. I was okay with that just on the surface, but the more we hung out, the more I realized there was something in me that stirred each time, wanting more. I am most confident that he knew that, but we both managed to subside any idea of moving anything further. We decided around my birthday to go to the qualifying rounds/practice sessions of the US Open. (FYI: For all you tennis fans, a good way to go to the US Open on a budget is to attend the practice sessions/qualifying rounds the week before the tournament kicks off. It is FREE to enter. Not all the stores/kiosks/food stands will be open, but there will be some great tennis to watch more, so than during the actual tournament. Also, another recommendation, the first week of the tournament has better matches than the second week. The side courts during the first week are flooded with amazing players. They all can't play in the major stadiums, so you get a more intimate match as you are closer to the action.) A good day to see the rising stars, we stood around the side courts to see some great tennis, commenting on their strokes and serves. At the end of the day, he drove me back to Brooklyn to where my car was and we said our good byes on a pleasant note. That was the last I ever heard from him.

Well, talk about Matches made in hell... haha... literally. Two years in a row, I was dumped on my birthday through ghosting even if it was just friendship. Luckily, my friend who works for Head Sporting Goods in the tennis division and is on the Board of the USTA was in town and invited me to join her for an evening during the tournament. That surely made up for the sour note from the week earlier. A few drinks and some Roger Federer makes any day better.

With age comes wisdom, maturity, and intuition.To not have the "cojones" to just say what you have to say, is a d*ck move. I believe the worst way to end anything is by "Ghosting". It happens far too much nowadays. People think they can just get away by sliding under the radar and not confronting the situation. Well it is not acceptable. Best to lay it out, be honest. This gives everyone the closure and understanding for future similar situations that may come up. Karma is a true bitch and so I don't wish it upon anyone. Maybe just some uncontrollable explosive diarrhea for a day. You'll recover, but that day will surely be shitty.

Besos,

Ilana