The Think System is behind me. Yesterday I
climbed into my boat and rowed.
Resetting
the ergonomics of the sliding seat, ensuring the proper security and
lubrication of the oarlocks, arranging the handy little bungee cords I use to
secure stuff along the sides…to be honest, all of this took longer to
accomplish than the actual seven-mile initial outing. And to be totally honest - and why not be?- this
brief foray on the water was itself punctuated by two separate coffee stops:
Brian’s house is 2.2 miles north of my mom’s, and I can always count on him for
a strong cup ‘o Joe, great insights on the news, and the epiphany that if we both
head north for 1.3 miles more, Bob and Tina will augment our coffee with
muffins until, well, until it’s time to head home.
That’s how I
got to seven miles, four cups of coffee, and two muffins by noon yesterday.
“Al,” you
may be asking, “what did seven miles, four leisurely cups, and two Everything
Muffies teach you yesterday about your state of preparedness for your journey?
Yours is a
fair and good question, Gentle Reader, one that should be considered in the
incubator of history. In 1969, Apollo 11 took one and one half preliminary orbits
around the earth, going nowhere but checking systems and gaining steam before
heading off to the moon. But nobody sits down next to you in a diner, stares
into the curdled cream in his coffee, and sighs, “Man, those Apollo guys sure
were something to take those extra one and one half orbits before they headed
off to the moon….” And when Indy was over, did anybody ask, “Hey, how many
warm-up laps did Ryan Hunter-Reay take before that flag went down?” I think not. And Hillary? She traveled 956,733
miles as Secretary of State, far more
than I will in the coming weeks. Does anyone ever ask how far she rowed before she started her
remarkable round of itinerant diplomacy?
I rest my
case. We each prepare in our own ways. But the chickens will come home to roost
on Friday morning at 7AM when the orbits end, the flag does down, the wheels go
up, and Saguenay sits 560 miles off the bow.
Today, I
rest. It’s my way.
Mo’ latah!
Al
No comments:
Post a Comment