This is another March with ups and downs.
At the beginning, there was teachers’ gathering for our Chinese school. Then, my daughter went for wisdom teeth extract – not one tooth, but all four. Even thinking about it has been a bit stressful. The idea is that it takes the same time to recover, four at the same time is better than four times of one. We were comforted that many kids went through the same thing. It turned out that she could only get two out of the four done; it still involved lots of hot soups and soft food in the week after the surgery.
This month, o
ne of my life to-do lists was checked-off. After many years of talking, we finally went to Indian Wells, California to watch the tennis master and to watch Roger Federer while he is still playing. Indian Wells are sometimes considered as the fifth slam in tennis, though not as well-known as the four major. The crowd was no less and this year more audience than that of French Open in Paris. It felt like Disneyland theme parks just two hours away from Indian Wells. There were lines to the food booths, lines to the stadium, lines for water refill; and things were pretty expensive. The whole atmosphere has been festive.
We went there to watch the second and third round over a weekend, There were many matches, men and women’s, happening on courts. We even waited at practice court for Federer who did not show, we did not wait as long as many other but equally disappointed. The star power was amazing; it felt like we were in concerts for two whole days. Federer always get a full house, even when playing in Doubles on Saturday. It can be felt in the air that people just love to watch him play, wish 
for his win and sad if he loses. This was unusual when we are used to root for underdogs in sports. The weather was in the 90s, so it took some physical strength to be an audience, as matches went from 11am to beyond 9pm. We were able to watch Federer both days, plus many other stars Williams, Djokovic, Nadal, Nishikori…. We are looking forward to a return trip next year and yet to decide whether we go for the early rounds or finals.
Was it the desert heat? Was it some virus? Was it allergy? I end up getting sick on my return. Recently, the experience of sickness is both physical and mental. When younger, it seems that the effect is more physical and recovery is faster. Is it the virus becoming more potent, or is it pure aging? It seems
that the virus back then was more to take you down totally for a day or two days, then we were good again; now the virus seems to be more causing you discomfortFull Brochure 1-29-15 (1) for weeks; and it made one look like the worst passport photo. Mentally, I feel easier to recover from 1 or 2 days’ of total down time than 3 or 4 weeks of lingering fatigue that starts to affect not just day-to-day activities, but also things that need to be planned out. This time, I lost 2 weeks to plan for the college campus tours for my daughter ‘ when I was well enough to pick it up, the airfare was more than doubled and the flight route was not as inconvenient, that maybe an illustration of the time value of money in the end. Other than financial impact, getting sick affects the rhythm of life, work routine, fitness routine; and those take effort to resume. Spring is beautiful, but not as much, when the virus and allergy is knocking you down.
oliviatamccue 
I have always enjoyed reading your post. This time, I am happy for you that you had finally got to watch the Indian Wells, well not that I know a single thing about this tennis event, but clearly from what you had described, it is a famous and worth going to event for tennis lovera like you, also, Federe was there for you!! It’s a pity though you’re unwell on your way back, I hope you’re doing better now. Its long Easter and Ching Ming holiday in hk. It’s the 4th day today, one more day then I will be back to routine with lots of work awaiting. Can’t complain though a with the nice break over the weekend. I STARTED TO HAVE SORE THROAT AND BLOCK NOSE LAST NIGHT….hope to contain it so that I will not be sick when it’s time to go back to work thia Wed. Get well soon, My Dear friend !