40 Love

I just got home from tennis camp in Neuvo Vallarta, Mexico, which turned out to be one of the best weeks of my life.

My friend Lori texted me about this trip a few weeks back when someone dropped out and they needed a last-minute replacement. The crazy thing is that I almost said no to this opportunity.

No?

Yes.

I have said “no” to fun things because of a list of excuses that may or may not include the following:

I’m too busy
I can’t miss work
I don’t have anything to wear
I don’t know anybody going
I feel fat
I feel hideous
I’m too tired
I’m too poor

All of these concerns flashed through my mind as I typed the “n” and then the “o” into my iphone. But then I deleted the text, checked with my husband, and hit “send” on Y E S.

I came home with a killer tan, a decent forehand, a “Most Improved Tennis Player” shot glass, deepened connections with old friends, and new friends I can’t wait to better connect with.

Almost everyone at camp was well over 40. In fact, most were in their 50s and 60s, yet by the amount of limbs exposed via skimpy tennis attire and tankinis, you’d never know it. I’ve never been around a group of women more comfortable in their own skin. It was all short hair and short skirts, items designed to enhance game play, which in turn highlights the face and thighs, such vulnerable parts of our being at this age.

And then I realized this: All of these lovely ladies were doing something that they loved, that made them happy, that they worked hard at and continued to get better at, that provided a sense of community with other ladies doing it too. They crawled with confidence and as a group were more beautiful and alive then any Millennial by a mile. 40 Love? Try 50 and 60 Love.

I left the sun and arrived to torrential rains, providing quite the shock to the system; re-entry into real life is a bitch. But boy am I glad I said yes. As I ride Muni to therapy in my yoga clothes (I always follow therapy with yoga as my gift to myself), I feel more beautiful and confident and full than I have in a long time. And that is always in style.

Stay tuned as next week I’ll write about my fashion observations from the trip.

Lastly, for anyone out there who loves tennis and beaches and pools and cocktails with umbrellas, details about this Tennis Camp through ILT Tours and tennis pro/organizer Scott Borowiak can be found here and here.