The Start of Summer and Open-Mindness

This week was the first official week of summer... And the majority of it has been spent on a bus driving to colleges in North and South Carolina. Now my parents (both Clemson alum) think that I'm already going to attend their alma mater, but now I'm not so sure. Here's a list of the colleges we hit:

Clemson

Wofford

Davidson

Wake Forest

High Point

Duke

UNC Chapel Hill

UNC Wilmington

College of Charleston

USC 

Furman

It's been a busy busy week indeed.

Right now I'm on my way from Charleston to Columbia enjoying these first few minutes of quiet time we've experienced on the bus since we started off on Monday.  I get really bus sick with headaches and nausea so these few hours have been heaven for me.  They even inspired me to post!

This week has taught me a lot already, especially in terms of patience. 

When you feel like you're going to throw up and all you can hear is loud yelling from your friends, you get a little frustrated. But then you have to remember that everyone is just enjoying themselves, trying to make a 5 hour bus ride somewhat fun. So I plug in my headphones and curl up with my blanket and pretend I'm sleeping in my bed. 

This trip has also reminded me to remain open-minded, whether I'm considering colleges or people. My eyes have opened up to smaller colleges like Davidson, and also led me to a few unlikely friendships. How can I know them if I never give them a chance?

We're gathering up our things getting ready to tour USC (my Clemson raising has led me to gag every time I say those words), so I have to wrap up, but focus on being patient and staying open-minded, and you might end up in a few unlikely places. 

xoxo,

Rachel 

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The Unconditional Love of a Team

Throughout life, we experience so many types of love. There is parent-child love. There is sister-sister love. There is pet love. There is best friend love. But then, there's team love.

During my two years of high school tennis I have come to learn that team love is so different.

I'm not gonna lie, team love is tough love. These girls push me to my limits; limits higher than what I thought I had. They push me to be the best player I can possibly be and the best person I can be.

But what I've also learned, is that team love is unconditional. Period. When I am at the top of my game, they are there holding me up. But when I'm at my lowest they are the ones who catch my fall and are fully prepared to build me back up again.

This week was intense for our girls tennis team. Last year we lost a close match in the quarters of state so our goal this year was to get past there. About an hour into our quarterfinal match we were at 2-matches all, and I looked around to suddenly find that it had all come down to me. My match would decide the rest of our season.

It was 5-7, 4-5, and I only had to win one more point to make it 5-5. I knew I could do it. Just keep pushing Rachel.

Amid my jumbled thoughts and loud cheers from the crowd (half the high school came down during lunch), the only cheer I heard was from my teammate: "I believe in you Rachel."

No, it wasn't "Win this match for us Rachel," "We're all counting on you Rachel," "Winning state is all up to you Rachel." It was just that they believed in me. Nothing else. And I believed in myself after hearing those words.

Now, I wish my life was a movie and I could tell you about how I overcame adversity and won this match and that we're headed to the state semis next week and that I'm the hero of the high school. But, as I've been reminded quite a few times lately, my life is not a movie, and I did fall short on Thursday, losing the second set 6-4.

After I shook hands with my opponent, I couldn't even make it off of the court before the tears started coming down. Real tough right?

With my hands covering my emotion-filled face and muscles shaking from adrenaline, I felt arms close around my shoulders. Bracing myself for their tears as well because of the end of our season, I looked up only to find 7 smiling faces looking back at me. The gratitude and love I felt at that moment while being congratulated on what I was told was my best match of the season is hard to put into words. I let the team down didn't I?

No Rachel, you just proved to everyone just how tough you are. You just pushed yourself to your furthest limit. That is the best match we've ever seen you play. Rachel we are so proud of you.

It's that kind of unconditional love that makes me so indescribably thankful for my team.

And there's always next year to win state, right?

xoxo,
Rachel

"Dear Lord, we pray that we should play a good, clean game and win. But if you choose that we should lose, keep us from giving in."