"Don't start."
Naomi sat beside her.
"Start what?"
"Giving me some motivational speech."
Naomi smiled faintly.
"I wasn't planning one."
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Then Amanda whispered, "Maybe I'm not good enough."
Naomi looked toward her.
The fighter's hands were wrapped.
Her face was bruised.
And her eyes were filled with tears she was trying desperately to hide.
Naomi took a breath.
"You lost a fight."
Amanda nodded.
"Yeah."
"That doesn't mean you lost everything you've worked for."
Amanda laughed bitterly.
"Feels like it."
Naomi placed one hand over hers.
"Then feel that way tonight. Tomorrow you can decide what needs to change."
Amanda looked up.
For a moment, she seemed surprised.
Then she laughed softly.
"That's your advice?"
Naomi nodded.
"You're allowed to be disappointed. You're not allowed to pretend one bad night tells the whole story."
Amanda stared at her.
Then embraced her.
Years later, when she became a champion, she would remember those words almost as clearly as the moment the referee raised her hand.
Naomi's life was changing too.
She completed her studies and began working with children who had speech and language difficulties.
She loved the work.
Sometimes progress came slowly.
A child might struggle for weeks to produce a single sound or communicate a need.
But Naomi believed even small improvements mattered.
She remembered one little boy who couldn't tell his mother when he was frightened.
After months of patient sessions, he learned to communicate the words clearly.
His mother cried.
Naomi cried with her.
Then she called Amanda that evening.
"I had the best day."
Amanda laughed.
"Did you win a championship?"
Naomi smiled.
"Something better."
She told her about the child.
Amanda listened.
For several seconds, she was quiet.
Then said, "You know you're changing lives, right?"
Naomi laughed.
"I'm helping kids talk."
Amanda shook her head.
"No. You're giving them a way to be heard."
For a moment, Naomi didn't answer.
Then whispered, "I guess that's one way to look at it."
Their friendship deepened because each woman recognized something important in the other.
Amanda understood strength.
Naomi understood patience.
And neither believed those qualities were opposites.
Naomi met her husband, David Ellis, at a charity fundraiser for children's healthcare.
He was thirty-one, a Black American electrical engineer with a warm smile, neat short hair, and a quiet sense of humor.