Choices
Being, as a parent
On the choices of parents of notable people, regarding school, family relationships and parenting:
Interviewer: ...But to many fans, the biggest shock was hearing that you hated tennis so deeply, that this life wasn't your choiceAgassi: That's why I hated it. Tennis interfered with my relationship with my father, and it interfered with the relationship with myself. I think when somebody doesn't have a choice, they never feel connected to their life. It doesn't matter if they're good at it or not.
As I cut the umbilical cord, Milo started to cry and shiver. One of the nurses, a dour Russian woman who had bossed Sascha around a little too much for my liking, said, not unkindly, "Oh, baby, life is hard.""Shut up," I snapped. She looked at me with astonishment.
"He just got here. He doesn't need that shit yet," I told her.
She looked at me like I was insane, but I didn't give a toss. I think when you become a parent you go from being a star in the movie of your own life to a supporting player in the movie of someone else's.
I placed Milo on his mother's chest and the two of them cuddled and got their breath back. I watched them until they both fell asleep, exhausted.
(Somewhere online I quoted an interview with a TV chef who said his parents had been health food nuts and when he got older and had the chance he started cooking meat. If anyone reads here and knows who or where that was, please e-mail me at Sandra at sandradodd.com.)