London 2002

It was the day of Emily's birthday party and minutes before we were supposed to leave the house, Missy comes up with the brilliant plan of running off to Wimbledon that very night. Me, loving the spontaneity of it all, agrees to go and camp out overnight so that we could get some good tickets. Mercedee joined us and it was one of the most memorable nights I will ever remember. I have NEVER been so utterly cold in all my life, have never slept so close to someone just for the faintest hint of body heat, and never appreciated a hot cup of hot chocolate so much. We weren't prepared in the slightest for the event, but I'll never regret going and I will always remember sleeping out under the stars and watching the sun rise at an early 4:15am.

This was our camping sight... That's me in the middle with scarf around head and sunglasses on to keep my eyeballs warm. Since we didn't have any sleeping bags, the three of us slept on one blanket and covered ourselves with a light fleece blanket that barely kept the wind out. Missy and Mercedee seemed to think it was funny that I had slept with sunglasses on, but I just couldn't bare to feel wind on another part of my body.

In the morning, Missy and Mercedee escaped off to Starbucks leaving poor Alishya to fend off the neighbors and cold winds. They spent more than an hour at the warm cafe while Alishya had to hustle down the line with all the bags and no hot chocolate. HMPH! Look at those smug grins! Ptpht!!!!

Even though this sign was posted every 10 feet, it didn't seem to do much good as we were almost 1000th in line by the time we arrived at 11:30pm.

These were the great people behind us in line. They were from Australia and they kept us company for much of the night and morning. They sat across the court from us and we would wave occasionally.
Meet Leanne, Stewart and Drusinda.

The line judges had some funny stances and I found myself fascinated with them... the things you don't see on TV.

Serena's family sitting on the sidelines, including the mom (great orange Afro) and Venus in visor. Dad was in the audience - what a nice support team!

Anna Kournikova was a big hit with the boys around who continuously chanted her name during the game... Sad.

I got home and decided to wash the gloves which had kept my fingers semi-warm during the night and which ended up with quite a bit of grass and dirt on them. After a wash and dry, I retrieved my all-time favorite gloves only to find that they had been shrunken to a unwearable level. I was distraught, of course, and I will forever know better.

It was a wonderful day and a great experience and I wouldn't trade it for anything... But boy, have I learned that camping outdoors is not all it's cut out to be! Next time, comforters, pillows and hot dogs!