I believe her words, but my muse right now is having a difficult time concentrating and I’m making allowances for it. It’s time for the US Open, and it’s Andre Agassi’s last tournament. He’s retiring afterward, regardless of how deep he goes in the draw. Monday night was fantastic and I had to watch. Andre and his opponent, another Andre Pavel, split the first two sets and when I got home from my critique group meeting, Agassi was down four, love. In other words, his opponent had four games, Agassi had none. It looked like he was done, but he dug deep, the New York crowd cheered him on and he won the next five games, won the tie break and then won the fourth set. Awesome! It’s always been awesome when Agassi played. When he had the long ponytail and black painted nails, now he’s bald, a father of two, thirty five years old and still hot. I want him to teach JMan. I’m also watching Thursday evening. I want him to win, but I want him to lose with the dignity he possesses. Andre said you don’t win Grand Slams, you take Grand Slams. When Agassi was falling in the rankings, he played the unglamorous men’s Challengers. He worked his way back into playing shape, by running up and down a mountain near his Las Vegas home. He never gave up and that’s why JMan and I watch him together. Inspiration for both us.

Black women are highly susceptible to many of the major health diseases. Heart disease is the number one killer of black women. Black women are four times more likely to have heart disease than White women. Black men, also suffer from high cholesterol, and heart problems. Kirby Puckett, the Minnesota Twins all-star, died today from a massive stroke. He was 45 years old, African-American, about five feet eight, and over three hundred pounds! Apparently, a heart attack waiting to happen.

All women have to be be aware of their health. We put ourselves last, taking care of other family members first. Two years ago, I wasn’t feeling very well, and had my blood pressure taken at the health club. The physical trainer went pale. He said I should see my doctor – soon. I said I would. I went home, fixed dinner for our son, and then went to the urgent aid center. Then, I took a ride in an ambulance to the nearest hospital. Was I worried? Nope! About my extremely high blood pressure, and the possibility I might have a stroke? No! I was freaking out about the two hundred dollars in floor tile in the trunk of my car, sitting in the parking lot of the center. See, we have our priorities screwed up. I bet our kids don’t miss their dental or doctor appointments. Sloane, after my little hospital visit, gave me a pamphlet with the warning signs of a heart attack. It ain’t called the silent killer for nothing. We think we’ve got the flu. We think we’re run down. We think if we lay down for an hour, we’ll feel better. Most of the time, that could be the case. But don’t you think it’s better we find out for real what’s wrong with us?

Now, I equate every medical visit with Dustin Hoffman’s dentist experience in Marathon Man. I recently had my first colon test. If you want to see color photos of my colon, let me know. I was suppose to take the test two years ago, but found every excuse I could, including the one, I just didn’t want to. But, recently a friend of mine’s wife, died from colon cancer. She was in her mid-forties, and had eleven year old twins. Colon cancer ran in her family, but my understanding is, she didn’t get checked in time. She died on Christmas Day. Of course, my doctor proceeds to tell me about two more women, both black, in their mid-forties recently dying of colon cancer. My test came back clean. Pun intended. Both colon and lung cancers are silent, deadly, and hard to detect. The warning signs come very late. I hesitated, and the worse part of the test, was drinking the crummy phosphate liquid. Fasting all day, wasn’t a problem, but I really don’t want to see Garden Vegetable Broth any time soon. The test took fifteen minutes. The sedative was great, and I woke up long enough for the doctor to show me how he was removing one polyp. Cool! Couldn’t even feel the device up my butt. Not a bad day. Hubby even waited on me, and I ate Chinese food. So, it was all good. We rush, rush, rush, rush, and say we don’t have the time. YES WE DO! YES WE MUST!

As romance writers, we write about the happily ever after. As women, we need to make sure we have our own healthy, happily ever after, right now.