my first regatta in ten years!

Yesterday had a lot of religious significance: Rosh Hashannah for Judaism and the Marrakesh for Islam. Oddly enough, it did for me too because it's about this time of year that I miss rowing. The weather is getting crisp as a Granny Smith and the leaves are starting to turn. I want to feel the speed and the coolness of the water. This time of the year represents all the things I miss about it.

So, when you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with. I raced on a sailboat this weekend for the first time and had a great time. The new art teacher at my school owns a J/27 and invited me to crew for him. I immediately accepted.We had two races on Saturday and one today-- we got second in all three. Saturday's wind hovered between 4-7 nauts and Sunday's 6-10 knots (I don't know how to spell this not, knot, naut.) I need to learn knots to be helpful; Richard went off on a diatribe about how useless Girl Scouts is when he found out my cluelessness regarding knots. I learned so much. There are so many terms (clew, tack, pinch, scream, spinnaker, halyard, lift wind vs. head wind). Plus, there were all the flags. The strategy was fun too. There were about 36 boats in the race.

The crew were four guys who have been sailing together for at least 10 years; the banter between the crusty sailers was fantastic. They were encouraging and fun. There were aspects that were brand new and extremely familiar. It was different to be excited about heavy wind. Choppy water wasn't a good thing in rowing and a great thing this weekend. Sailing isn't the workout that rowing is, but I came home with tired muscles-- there's tugging, lifting, etc.

Then I drove home from Lake Norman, took a nap, went for a 5 mile run and gearing up for my classwork for my LE class. Yippee, yi, yay. I had an exhausting, depleting week at work. I needed this beautiful, fun weekend. I'm slowly learning that leaving work alone when you leave makes me a better, saner, happier, more productive teacher.

This adventure in rowing reminded me what an adventure life can be, how many kind and generous people there are, how beautiful God's creation is, and how good our God is! It was no official religious observance for my faith, it was spontaneous observance.