Three Beautiful Things 06-09-2025: Resilience and My Delusion, *Spotlight* is a Mighty Movie, Sloppy Joe Wrap

1. Coco Gauf dropped the first set of her championship match with Aryena Sabalenka at the French Open over the weekend and then came back to win the next two sets and the match. 

As often happens in sportswriting and discussion, observers rightly praised Gauf for her resilience in the face of a superb opponent, dicey weather conditions, and other factors. 

Coincidentally, I had reasons I'll keep to myself to remember back to 1982 and the dissolution and eventual annulment (1984) of my first marriage. 

It came back to me how delusional I was during this time and in the years to follow. 

But, I'd heard the word "resilience" so many times used to describe athletes and teams who overcame difficulties, even doing so gracefully, that I got it in my head back then that I, like them, was resilient in the face of this shattering change in my life. 

I wasn't. 

I almost thrived on telling people how resilient I was. I wasn't lying so much as I was delusional. I was saying what I wanted to be true, but it wasn't. 

Why mention this in a list of Three Beautiful Things? 

Admitting delusion, recognizing how lost I was and how frightened and reckless, owning up, within myself, to harm I caused, and examining myself further regarding the many, many times when what I thought and said about myself was not in keeping with who I actually was nor with many of my actions is a good thing. 

So here it is, the first of today's Three Beautiful Things. 

2. Having watched the last half an hour or so of All the President's Men on Sunday moved me today to look at clips from the movie Spotlight. While I deeply admire the story of All the President's Men and think it is among the most brilliantly written, directed, acted, and produced movies I've ever seen, it's never moved me to tears. 

Spotlight does. 

I had some tearful moments with scenes from Spotlight today. 

3. After dinner on Sunday, Christy told a story about how celebrity chef Michael Symons, in a pinch, used Sloppy Joe mix to make tacos. 

We have flour tortillas on hand and tonight, when Debbie and I ate leftover Sloppy Joes for dinner, I decided not to use a hamburger bun. Instead I made a Sloppy Joe wrap. 

It's possible that I preferred my wrap to the classic Sloppy Joe on a bun. 

My jury is still out, but that Sloppy Joe wrap scratched an itch I didn't know I had!