The human experience

June 7, 2009

Jeremy and I got up this morning and watched the French Open men's finals. For those of you who are not tennis fans, Roger Federer was playing to tie Pete Sampras' record of 14 championship wins, but if he won, he would have surpassed Sampras' record in that Sampras never won the French Open. For all his wins, Federer had not yet won the French Open. With the win, it would be difficult to argue with the statement that Federer is the best tennis player in history. And he won.

We were on the edge of our seats. Jeremy was clapping at every point, both of us vocally cheering on Federer. When it came to the last set, you could see Federer's eyes fill. He knew what was ahead of him. Something he had fought for for so long. And then Soderling hit the championship point into the net. Federer fell to his knees. He fell to his knees, hands to his face. He was crying. You could see his body gasping the way you do when you can't catch your breath for the emotion. And oh God, my tears fell too. "Yes Roger. You have accomplished something no other human has done before. You have bested the ghosts in your head. You no longer have to fear the failure of the French Open." I was right there with him. (It makes it that much easier to join in the emotion of the moment when you see how gracious and sportsman-like he is. When you know that he's a newly-wed. When you know that his wife sitting in his box was carrying his first child. How could you not be pulling for Roger?)

And then the class of the guy, to make his speech in French and English! (I have to admit, I was bragging for a moment to Jeremy about my Swiss roots.) So there I was, all hyped up over his win. Yes, a little caffeine was also contributing to the moment. And it was time for a run. That just seemed the next natural course of action for me.

I grabbed a Sigur Ros CD. I listened to track three the entire run (the CD we have doesn't have liner notes or tracks, so I don't know the name of the song, and I don't speak Icelandic, so I can't understand what they're saying either!). What a soundtrack for a run. Magnificent, pulsing, da-dum - - - da-dum - - - da-dum. I had to stop running. I couldn't keep up with the pace that was pushing through me. I wanted to raise my arms and fly. Yes Roger, we all have those moments in our lives when we can't believe we've made it this far! We can't believe we overcame that obstacle. And we all want to fall to our knees with the world cheering with us - YES!!

And once again, the connection of the human experience lifted me.