Marlow's Musings 7/13/25
Insights, adventures and fun stuff from this week.
Audio narration by David Marlow
The thin rubber soles of my Converse sneakers were no match for the heat radiating off the blanched concrete. In an otherwise tree-covered park, the tennis courts absorbed the summer sun uninhibited.
The only break came when retrieving a stray ball that flew out of bounds into the shaded grass nearby.
We were out of school, and my grandmother signed my younger brother and me up for tennis lessons. “You’re not sitting around the house all summer. You need to get some sunshine.” Which I believe she was sincere in saying, while also needing us to get out of her hair.
Morning and afternoon sessions, for six hours a day total. Collett Park was only two blocks away from our house. In between sessions, we’d walk home, and Grandmother would have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches ready with ice-cold lemonade to wash them down.
Both of my grandmothers’ first names were Blanche. To avoid confusion, we called our fraternal grandmother Grandma and our mom’s mom, Grandmother.
For most of those years, I played with a wooden Don Budge Autograph edition racket that was a hand me down from my mom. It required a wooden frame or press that was tightened with silver wing nuts to hold the racket in place and prevent warping.
Later, I would save my birthday and Christmas money to purchase a Wilson T3000. It cost $351 back then and was similar to the one Jimmy Conners, my favorite player at the time, used in his matches.
We played with white balls that showed dirt after only a few games. It didn’t matter; we used them until they were so flat and worn out that they couldn’t bounce anymore.
I remember vividly the transition in professional tennis to optic yellow balls. I also recall watching Wimbledon and noticing that they refused to change from white for over a decade.
Wimbledon has refused or deferred many changes, sticking with ‘tradition’, which is, of course, part of the allure of that tournament. They still play on grass long after other major tournaments switched to hard courts. Players must wear predominantly white clothing. It is Gentlemen’s and Ladies, not Men’s and Women's competitions.
Still, even Wimbledon changes. The manual scoreboards are long gone. Wooden rackets transitioned to aluminum and now composite. Girls now as well as boys retrieve the balls in matches.
Players change too. For years the players rebelled against the white clothing restriction, now they embrace it with many wearing special Wimbledon only outfits.
There are no line judges anymore. I’m not sure if you’d call it Ai or automation but cameras and computers make the in or out calls on the lines.
Unlike the days of McEnroe throwing fits and rackets protesting the calls, no one argues with the electronic system. It never makes a mistake.
In no small bit of irony, Wimbledon was one of the first of the major championships to get rid of the linespeople in favor of the technology.
The courts are still there in Collett park alongside the now even more ancient trees. The concrete surface long ago replaced by a safer and cooler composite. Two additional courts were added as the popularity of tennis grew though I’ve heard the newer courts may be converted to pickleball as one racket sport ascends and the other fades.
And this week, my grandkids will be playing tennis in the hot summer sun. Though unlike my beloved grandmother, I will be walking to the courts in a nearby park and playing with them.
Word of the Week
Jayus (n.)
/ˈdʒaɪəs/
1: A joke so poorly told and unfunny that it becomes hilarious
2: A person who consistently tells such jokes
From Indonesian, this word captures something I know well. My Notes section in Ikiquest is full of puns that are so wonderfully terrible they've somehow been viewed over a million times this year.
Many tell me these glimpses into my sense of humor (or lack thereof) show that while it is important to explore life's deeper meanings, we also enjoy having fun and not taking ourselves too seriously.
Jayus operates where failure becomes success. It's the dad joke that makes everyone laugh despite themselves, the pun so bad it's good.
In living our Ikigai, Jayus reminds us we don't have to choose between depth and lightness.
In case you missed it…
This week’s Ikigai Thought for Today…Kindness
With all the opportunities we have to disagree, fueled by social media and more, consider these two profound thoughts in your reflection today.
Ikiquest+
This week’s Coffee Contemplation…Noble and Magnificent
Several people have asked me about the origin of Coffee Contemplation.
With so many new Ikiquest+ subscribers, plus thousands of free subscribers since that first recording, I thought I'd do something different. Rather than just tell you how it started, I'm sharing the original—where you can hear me exploring the idea in real-time.
It gives you a flavor for how it all came to be.
Ikiquest+ subscribers can always listen to the audio narration or read the transcription. This week, I opened up the contemplation to everyone to explore Ikiquest+.
If you aren’t yet an Ikiquest+ Subscriber, you can give it a try for free by clicking the box here. The choice is yours.
Comment of the Week:
This week’s comment is from Jennifer on the upcoming release of The Ikigai Way as an audiobook…
Reading you describe listening to your book makes me excited to hear it too. I’m not an audio book listener except when we drive from Florida to Michigan (and back) each summer. Finding a book both my husband and I enjoy is a challenge (let’s just say opposites attract!) - but this is one that fits the sweet spot. Can’t wait!
I’m thrilled the book is now available in audio, as so many people enjoy books by ‘listening’ to them.
Quote I’m Pondering
This thought is from Mo Gawdat2…
“When life gets tough, some of us feel that we’ve lost the game and life has won. But life isn’t trying to defeat you. Life isn’t even a participant—the game is yours.”
Final Thoughts:
Though tennis is a sport you can play your entire life, for the professionals it is a short window of time. Novak Djokovic this week valiantly battled in the semi-finals of Wimbeldon against his much younger opponent eventually losing the match and his chance at another Grand Slam title.
He is 38 which is young for a human and old for a tennis player. Most by that point in life have long before givenup the game. His opponent now is aging and “aging is undefeated. It gets everyone, even legends.”3
That’s why understanding our Ikigai is vital to a happy life. We are more than our careers, even careers as awesome as those of tennis champions.
Things change, the person we were created to be remains.
Quest well!
Equivalent to $208 today.
Mo Gawdat, Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy (New York: North Star Way, 2017), 88.
Jason Gay, “Aging is undefeated. It gets everyone, even legends.'“
I love that quote. It so aligns with my philosophy of life. Thank you!
I think we all see examples of irony in establishment that are stuck in tradition being the first to embrace some new concept. Those without a growth mindset might be quick to call hypocrisy, even.
As for "jayus" reminding us we don't have to choose between depth and lightness - I think of one of my close friends when I was 20 and he was a bit older. A very deep thinker, but he always kept people at bay with his often "inappropriate" sense of humor.
Whenever he would do something as a joke that was so stupid and it fell flat, he would try it again in 20 or 30 minutes. We would groan, but not laugh. He would keep saying it over and over all day until we were crying, and it became an iconic phrase to remind us of whatever our time was together to this day.
Have You Ever Seen The Comedy sketch "Kristen Schaal is a Horse?" Like that.
🤣