Last night was the final installation of Wednesday Night Out in its original
configuration, the goodbye dinner forT2 and Egret as they head off to Ireland.
Actually, he's leaving on Monday, while she'll be around for another week or so.
Somewhat depressing, even though it's not permanent. Egret tells me she has
started her own diary; I'm hoping she decides to share the URL with me, so we can
follow their Eire escapades. (I don't feel right searching for it, if she
doesn't.)
Rudder present them with a montage of photos in a mat we'd
had people sign at the party Friday night, as well as a very nice shot of T2 in
his single. Several people couldn't make it, but one other rower did join us last
night. I'll call him Oldtimer, because she's been with the city program since it
began, as well as for the obvious reason. (Remember, this is a sport where getting
older is a good thing, because it's rewarded with generous handicaps.) Oldtimer
told me something last night I hadn't known, and that pleases me greatly.
Let me backtrack a bit. When I was about 12, I invited one friend to
join a chapter of a Jewish girls' group, BBG, that other friends were forming. Not
only did she join, but she was elected president, became active on a regional
level, and later ended up traveling to Israel with the group.
Years
later, when we moved out here, I became friendly with a coworker, who had held
that same job for about five years. He had a pilot's license, but hadn't flown
since college. We invited him out flying one day; next thing we knew, he'd put
money on account at a local FBO and was up flying every week. Then we quit his
job, cashed in his 401(k), and went to a school run by Mesa airlines. Now he's
flying with them for a living, and is married to a woman he met while out at
school.
So last night, Oldtimer told me that he had once stopped by
the lake in a subdivision where I used to row monthly with the rowing club, way
back before the lake we row in now was even created. The subdivision lake wasn't a
great place to row, being narrow, twisty, and not all that long, and we couldn't
row the bigger boats at all. Still, it was a chance to get out on the water when
there weren't really any other alternatives. They'd publicize the row, and give
new peopole a chance to taste the sport. Apparently I'd spent quite a while
talking to Oldtimer that day, and he'd decided this was exactly what he needed.
He's been rowing ever since, and has competed, gotten in much better shaoe, and
made some friends. How very cool, to know you've had that kind of effect on
someone's life.