You Negotiate Like a Girl by Amy Trask

Author:Amy Trask
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Triumph Books
Published: 2016-07-19T16:00:00+00:00

9. To Thine Own Self Be True

As focus on a linkage between brain injuries and sports (football in particular) has increased, I am frequently asked whether, if I had a son, I would want him to play football. This is not an easy question for me. I do not know what my answer would be, and since I do not have a son, I have not been forced to reach a conclusion.

Putting aside the issue of football, I am a worrywart when it comes to people I love. The magnitude of my worry – and my vivid imagination about the harm that may befall those I love – is a running joke among my family, friends, and colleagues. If someone is not where I believe he or she should be at the time I believe he or she should be there, I am poised and ready to call (and have in fact called) the authorities to request a search of roads and hospitals. You’re late for a meeting? Obviously, you must have driven off the side of the road and need my help. You’re not where you’re supposed to be? You must have been kidnapped and need my help. Those are not exaggerations.

I once concluded that a team executive who was late for a meeting must have driven into a ditch, and I mobilized a squadron of people to find him.

I’d been with the organization only a short time when I concluded that Al had been kidnapped.

Many evenings after most people had gone home, often when it was dark, Al would go out to the practice fields and jog. I always knew that even if I couldn’t catch him after practice to discuss something, I could wait until after he finished jogging, and catch him when he returned. Those were quiet, relaxed times when I could interact with him.

One night, I went to find him in his office after I thought he should have been back inside, but he wasn’t there. I went back to my office, waited a bit, checked back periodically, but still no Al. It seemed to me that he had been out back longer than usual so I became worried. I waited just a bit longer and then went out to the fields to find him. He wasn’t there. Okay, he wasn’t in his office and he wasn’t on the fields or any place in between. Now, I was really worried. I checked everywhere in the building that housed our business operations but couldn’t find him. I called the building that housed our football operations and was told that he wasn’t there. Now, I was really panicked.

One of Al’s assistants knew that I was looking for him everywhere. I found her and said: “Al’s been kidnapped.” The expression on her face suggested that she thought I was nuts, but my worry affected her and she too became worried. She helped me look for Al, we couldn’t find him. We were in the process of placing a

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