The best news ever!

I haven't so much as picked up my tennis racquet since December and all this stuff went down with my arthritic and dysplasia-ridden left hip. After a seven-month hiatus from tennis and four months of working out with a personal trainer, I met my tennis coach, Dave, on the courts Tuesday for a one-hour session. My trainer from Lifetime, Tim, came to watch so he could see the issues I have with mobility first-hand.

I felt like a pseudo-celebrity with my own Dream Team there to work with just me...but then we started playing and I felt more like Darth Vader as I sucked air from lack of endurance.

At first, we just hit back and forth (which felt SOOOOOOOO good). Then Tim would ask to see me move a certain way. To the left and Dave would feed balls to the left. Then right and Dave would feed right, then approach shots, then back and forth (insert lots more sucking air here!!) At the end, I felt pretty good. Obviously, some balls I just couldn't get to, but c'est la vie.

At the end, they both agreed that I should get back to playing. Ladies clinics are M/W nights and aren't nearly as strenuous as a private hour-long session. Tim thinks the movement will be good for me. "Better than sitting on your ass at home" as he put it, giving you a glimpse of why my training sessions are actually kind of fun.

So, I headed home ... reveling in the news that somebody gave me the "OK" and basically, I felt like this: