During the Branding of Me class last semester and through some further reflection this summer, I have been thinking about my passions. What I have come to realize is that the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree, and my passions are very similar to the passions of my grandparents.
My grandmother loved journalism. Family and journalism definitely seemed to be her passions, or at least this is how it always seemed to me. You could tell how passionate she was about journalism by reading her articles and columns that were in the Salisbury Post almost every day, or by hearing her talk about an article she had written. She loved writing, being able to learn about people’s stories and then having the chance to share their stories. As you can tell from an article like this one “Where did all those years go?”, she had so much passion for what she did for a living. I am pretty sure that her passion was contagious and helped me to look at writing as an enjoyable experience, and almost never as a task.
My grandfather had many passions, but I remember most his passion for sports and the perspective it gave him on life. He loved baseball. He told stories of playing for a team while he was in the army. He was also a lifelong NY Yankees fan, although he at times joked that he cheered for the Atlanta Braves since they were on television more often in North Carolina. He mostly taught himself how to play tennis (at least I think that’s how it started), and then he played the sport all of his life. His passion for tennis resulted in most of my family both enjoying and playing the sport. I always felt like he loved playing, watching and talking sports. He was also extremely supportive of everyone’s sports experiences. I remember him watching some of my first tennis matches and talking to me after softball practice. I always felt like he was on my side and was one of my biggest supporters.
My grandfather had a few sayings that I’ll never forget. One was “grab a pen.” He just wanted to make sure that everyone was ready if you drove over a drawbridge (and then really any other bridge). He also would say “bend your knees,” which is definitely the best advice I ever heard for playing tennis. The other saying I remember was “keep your eye on the ball.” I know that this may have been directed at tennis, or another sport, but he said it very often and I really think he just liked this advice for life. It was kind of like the book Rules of the Red Rubber Ball. While my grandfather may not necessarily have been giving only life advice, I think that the ball he was talking about represented passion. Whether is was a ball in a sport or a “ball” representing something else in life, I really do think he was saying to keep your eye on it and then follow it.
I am excited to have the new blog title “Keeping my Eye on the Ball,” and I am looking forward to continuing to write about my passions.
Until next time,
Hannah
P.S. next time will be soon because I can’t wait to write about some of the recent events in sports!
Keeping My Eye on the Ball 