Day 11: "Coffee" with an athletic biologist

Alyssa, on her way to being busy.

Today's meeting was another friend-of-a-friend sort of deal. "Does she look like an ultimate player?" I wondered about each woman who crossed the street from Cal's campus towards where I sat outside Yali's Cafe. (This of course  begs the question, What does an ultimate* player look like?)

Alyssa provided no definite answers, but she did provide almost an hour of good conversation. Our "coffee" date was more of a bench-sitting chat session, as I sipped iced tea and she fiddled with the ear buds she was holding.

I walked away with a healthy dose of perspective. I'm not sure I have actually experienced what "busy" means, compared to this woman. In college, she was on the varsity equestrian team AND on the club ultimate team. I, on the other hand, quit ultimate after one semester because it took too much time.

These days Alyssa is working on her Ph.D. in microbiology, and meanwhile finds time to play some very competitive ultimate, ride horses, play basketball, and get into boxing. Not to mention quality time with the friends. Honestly, I got tired just thinking about it all. I'm sure she does at least 4 things that didn't come up, on top of that.

After hearing about all she has going on, I was somewhat honored that she made time for me. I was even more honored when she suggested I come along on the next one of her "girls night" get-togethers. She's headed to Europe for a while (doing 4 countries in 3 weeks, of course), so we'll see if that pans out when she gets back. At the very least, if I ever start to feel overwhelmed with my life, I can take a deep breath and to compare myself to Alyssa. Then I will relax.

*Ultimate = ultimate frisbee. Check it out.