Love the Business if it Spreads the "Music"

Music has always been an integral part of my life. It's always playing around me, and I'm always searching for that something "new" to keep me feeling alive. So, when I saw that the founder of Pandora Radio, Tim Westergren, took an interview on the Charlie Rose Show last night, I just had to watch. (You can click on the Charlie Rose Show link in the previous sentence to see the video.) As you may well know, Pandora is making huge leaps in the US music, radio and technology industries. It brings new and old music together based on a "music genome project" that classifies songs and artists by genre, sound, style and much more; it provides listeners with a stream of music based on what they want to hear, and allows the users to customize their radio "stations" to continually hear what they want, as well as discover new music/songs/artists.

During the fairly casual, 20-minute discussion, Charlie asked Tim an interesting question: "Do you love music or do you love business?" It seems like the expected response would be, as Tim first responded, "I love music." But he continued on to explain that "what makes [his] job so wonderful...is that [he's] getting to run a business that...is having a big impact, through music, on people. And...[he] can't imagine something more fulfilling."

It was the perfect answer, if you ask me. I mean, we all love something but that love isn't what will fulfill our lives. It's doing something through, or with, that love that makes it wonderful: life's about sharing the passion.

So, if you ask me: Do you love softball or do you love coaching? I love softball, hands-down. But I enjoy coaching so much because it enables me to share a passion (and some life lessons) through softball.

For my 25th birthday, I got a tattoo: "Ut Prosim." As people have noticed it, I've received a variety of different questions/responses, my favorite of which are:

• *Squinted eyes, as if trying to decipher gobbledygook* "What's that mean?";
• *Pensive look* "What's it mean?";
• *Rolls eyes* "That's a Tech thing, right?";
• *Steps back in shock* "So--what?--you're enlisting in the Army or something?"; and my absolute favorite
• *Raised eyebrow* "Ummmm, okay? I mean, are you still happy you got [the tattoo]?"

Ut Prosim is Latin for "that I may serve." Yes, it's Virginia Tech's motto; no, that's not why I got it. I guess, all my life I've been a "sharer," a "giver," a "listener," a "teacher." I've always been there for, and to help, others. There's very little that I do for ME; often times, in fact, I get lost in helping others that I don't realize I need help, too. Even my tattoo is ironically evident of this: it's was a gift to myself, but the premise is all about giving myself to others.

I've heard a lot of chitter chatter lately about me, the girls on my team, the other coaches, the organization and more. I won't say what's being said (mostly because I've only heard snippets), but I know it was just straight gossip. Unfortunately, gossip is a strange thing to behold and an even harder thing to control; like a forest fire, it can renew the land but, when it gets that dreaded draft of wind, there's no stopping it.

No matter what anyone says, this is what I do. I give. And I will continue to give and give and give, until I've got nothing left to give. As long as I'm breathing, though, I'll have something to give. It's something I want to instill in my friends and the girls I coach; I want to give them all I have so that they have something to give in return. Then, when my last breath's exhaled, I hope there's still something of me that I gave being passed on to others through love (even if it's not softball).