Phuong's knack for business; I'm playing tennis again

My wife and her family have a real feel for business. Phuong's dad owns and manages property, including the building that serves as the headquarters  -- with classrooms -- for ever-expanding VMG language center, where I used to work. That probably explains why they never fired me. Phuong's brother has his own handyman business, and Phuong's mom is a tailor who also cooks and sells Vietnamese food on holidays. Phuong's sister-in-law runs a store out of Phuong's parents' house. Phuong used to have a private IT business, fixing phones and laptops. (Vietnam labels itself as a Communist country with capitalism, or something like that.) Now, Phuong has  thrown herself into a a small daycare that we operate in our house, closing off our living room and putting in an air conditioner, buying and organizing toys, buying the swimming pool we use on our balcony upstairs, and cooking and cleaning nonstop. In short, she's investing love, effort, time and money into this endeavor. It started when I suggested she recruit some playmates for Joanna. Phuong loves to say she is working with "all my power."  Me? I contribute the all-important nods of agreement and approval, and the encouraging "looks good" observations to her Herculean efforts. Clearly, I'm invaluable to the success of the operation. The mission has been accomplished, and then some. Joanna interacts well with the other children, and with a little tough love from dad, has improved her behavior dramatically. She speaks much more Vietnamese now, but the kids in daycare are speaking some English because of Joanna and the White Monkey. Joanna has refined her sense of humor, answering my questions in Vietnamese because she knows I don't understand, and acting like a baby by saying "goo-goo-ga-ga" to intentionally frustrate me and laugh at my reaction. (I play along and exaggerate my frustration.) Sometimes ... life really is too short.

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Less than two months after I tore my plantar fascia playing tennis, I returned to the tennis court on Saturday. My intention was to just hit the ball with my wife for a little bit, test the foot, and go home and celebrate if all went well. Instead, we rallied and tried a couple of serves back and forth. Then I suggested we play a point to see how my foot responded. Then, a point became a game, and a game became a set. I was pleased with how I moved from side to side and backwards. I was very nervous and tentative charging short balls, which my wife frequently hits. Serving wasn't an issue. In a 45-minute set, I prevailed 6-4. Phuong never broke my serve and I finally broke her serve at 5-4 to gain a tense, scintillating and courageous 6-4 victory to maintain my No. 1 family ranking with the ITA, WTA, USTA, and PTA. The rematch is Sunday. I'll continue ice therapy and rehabilitation throughout my heroic comeback -- and likely as long as I want to play tennis. As always, I credit my daily tai chi practice for making the comeback to tennis possible. By the way, I celebrated Saturday night with an Estrella beer. The most important thing, honestly, is that I can play and move again without pain. I want to  be able to enjoy a sport like tennis in my "golden years."

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I never see any customers in the new Craft Beer bar near our house, other than me. I really want the place to stay open even if the supply is somewhat limited -- the adequate Estrella Damm beer from Spain and the strong and wonderful Westmalle Tripel from Belgium are the only real "exotic" beers they carry in bottles. I haven't tried the beers on tap yet -- I saw they had a pale ale and a mango beer. If I stay injury-free, I'll celebrate there one night real soon.

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I have an English class that includes two daycare moms, two businesswomen and a teacher. They're fun, smart and improving quickly. Very satisfying class. I also teach a 12-year-old girl. I feel bad for her, sort of, because it's just me and her. Shockingly, she acts like a 12-year-old girl, which is a challenge for me. In this class, I'm learning as well.