Erica and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

So I may be over exaggerating with the title here but, today was just not my day. Looking back on it I suppose I can laugh because some of it was just ridiculous. For example, my hair. My hair looked awful today. I have curly hair and for whatever reason, the water in Huntington does not mix well with my hair. It was pretty much an afro and nothing I did made it look good.

Alright, that is not a huge deal. In fact, there were some aspects of my day that were really wonderful. Chapel today was good. I was able to eat lunch with two great people and Todd made me laugh so hard that spaghetti sauce actually started its way down my nose. All good. And then Lindsay and I laughed about nothing for a while later too. Great!

So, why am I still up at 1:30 in the morning when I should be doing my chemistry webassign (ICK) and instead I am on here? Well, let me introduce you to Huntington’s biggest rival, Indiana Wesleyan, or IWU. Apparently this school has the power to make someone feel like beating up on something. This afternoon, we had a tennis match against them. It is always fun to play them…at first. We prepare mentally and listen to great songs prior to the match and talk ourselves through how this year we are finally going to beat them. Today was no different.

Here is the thing about IWU: they are good at everything. Everything! They also have really great facilities and this amazing coffee shop that even (I hate to admit this) Huntington Students visit on occasion. The fact that they have this coffee shop and we don’t just makes our rivalry even stronger. And what’s worse is that their tennis team is dynamite. I don’t know how, and honestly, I don’t even want to try and figure it out. They just literally kick everyone’s butts. They have these bright red uniforms which make them look like those fire ants that sting you when you accidentally sit on them on the sidewalk. Their coaches are super amazing, and just when you think you have them pegged into this stereotype of the snotty, if I have to kill you I will, type of people, they prove you wrong. Because IWU’s tennis team is probably the nicest team we play. Alright, I said it.

Their tennis program is like the Stepford Wives. It looks so perfect! They have 12 tennis courts, indoor courts that are so much better than ours, a huge shed thing, and great bleachers. And the players are always just so cheerful (okay, c’mon, they win all the time who wouldn’t be that cheerful) and always on time and always seem to be doing their homework after they are done winning. It’s like, how do they do that? How are they so put together right now when I barely made it in time to catch the bus to the match let alone bring all of my homework? They are the team that everyone loves to hate, but can’t because they are nice. Dangit.

So, today Jess and I lost our doubles match. So did the other doubles. Then, during my single’s match weird things happened. I was up 5-0. My adrenaline was rushing so fast I thought I was going to pass out. Then, the inevitable happened; my back snapped. My back has been injured for a year now, and I seriously can’t remember what it feels like to play without feeling pain. But right in the middle of my winning streak, BAM. Then, she started hitting shots all over the court that I could not run to. So I started losing. I lost 6 games in a row. I don’t even want to go and try to explain how annoyed and mad I was. I couldn’t move, so I felt like I was trapped in this box unable to escape. And, emotionally I was confused because I was just so pumped up about winning and now I was losing?! How does that happen?

This girl’s entire family was there too, and her boyfriend, and her friends. Perfect IWU family. Yeah, well mine would be there too if this were a home match, okay? So if hearing 5 loud voices shout, “Awesome shot Rachel!” after every shot that were not even very good I just couldn’t get to it really bring down my self confidence, then maybe the fact that I double faulted like 10 times did.

It was basically a mercy killing. It hurt…bad. Physically and emotionally. It would not have been so bad if I lost with some dignity or grace, but that didn’t really happen. The girl felt no pity on me whatsoever, and continued to just move me around until my back stiffened up again. I am pretty sure at one point I wanted her to just come over and beat me with her racket physically because that would have been a much more painless death than the slow one I was going through.

It finally ended, her victorious, if you didn’t catch that yet. Her entire fan base cheered her on as she walked off the court and yelled, “What an amazing comeback!” Yeah…for real. I couldn’t help but wonder just how happy this girl was probably feeling right then, all thanks to me.
Wouldn’t be so bad if I knew that I was able to give 100% or if I knew that the girl was actually better than me. And I realize that this is just a part of life, and in the big scheme of things it is nothing. I know. But it still really annoyed me.

And getting back to campus at 9 with about 4 hours of writing papers and reading ahead of me doesn’t seem to help either. That’s life though, right? And I suppose, I can laugh it off, just maybe not tonight.

That is why when I got back to campus I put on John Mayer’s “Who Cares” song and drove around Huntington for 10 minutes until I felt ready to face the world again.
Gotta love sports, and homework, and the fact that I am currently sitting in my living room in the dark wearing red shorts and a red t-shirt and look like a skinny off colored tomato. And I do appreciate my teammates who, unfortunately, all lost as well. And I appreciate Buffalo Wild Wings where the team went to dinner, and I appreciate my roommates who make burnt banana bread and make me laugh. And I appreciate all of my friends who always ask how my match goes, and I appreciate it when I say it was really bad someone says, “that’s okay, you can tell me about it tomorrow.” Thank you, for that.

Tomorrow is another day, right? Thank goodness!