When they came back Patti addressed Diane. “So my best friend from grade school really changed.”

“I think you could say that.  When I got to the new school I had to make new friends. That was hard. I got a little hard nosed and competitive. I was told with one eye I would have difficulty with sports. I looked at track but I wasn’t that fast. I liked soccer and learned to compensate some for the lack of depth perception. I still can’t hit a softball with any reliability because I can’t tell how far away it is. With soccer balls and basketballs it is easier. And I found that if I was aggressive in basketball and soccer I was pretty good so I got more and more aggressive. I hate to admit this but on the field and the basketball court I am just plain a holy terror. I get to the place where I don’t care if I get hurt if I can win.” She laughed. “I guess my record proves that.”

“Well. You do have an impressive record.”

“Actually, I have been sitting here during the break thinking. With four kids, a house, a job, and lots of things I have used to keep me busy I don’t do a lot of thinking.”

Denise laughed, “I don’t get time to do a lot of thinking and I don’t have half of that.”

“But sitting here I realized I sometimes use being busy to not think about things.” She looked over at Patti. “The other day on the show when I stood up to talk about Karen was one of the first times I did something and didn’t think about whether my eye was going to be noticed. Doing that was far too important. But a few minutes ago I remember laying on a bed in the ER about a year ago with a broken leg and wondering for ten seconds if it was worth it. I refused to think about it and three months ago I was back with a broken ankle. I’ve broken almost as many bones as the guy who tried to jump the snake river on a motorcycle. And worse, I just realized that I have modeled this for my girls.”  She looked at the camera.  “Dee, Darla, I am sorry. We will have a long talk tonight about using some common sense. You know, I realized that winning isn’t the issue, it is proving I am tough even if I have to get hurt to do it or worse, hurt someone else. I taught my girls that.”