We (my mom, husband and I) went out for a morning of watching our daughter’s crew race for the second weekend in a row. It was fast. We got there as she was pushing off from the dock, watched her row off toward the finish line. Then we shmoozed with a bunch of other parents for a while and eventually, a couple of little ant-sized dots came into view, far off. We had no idea which boat was which, and which one was ahead. That’s the thing with crew. You wait and wait and wait and can only see in the last two minutes. The closest I can get with my zoom lens is this. (mine is the one in the orange cap) They whizzed past the viewing dock, and then it was over.
boat.jpg

I’ve never really seen her row, up close. I’ve seen her row on land, on a rowing machine, but that isn’t quite the same. So when she showed me this video that everyone on her team watches constantly, it gave me goose bumps and a lump in my throat. It gave me a tiny taste of what it’s like to be there. I won’t ever see her being more than an inch big. But that’s how she feels about her team, her boat. They are so incredibly dedicated to each other and so fierce.

Goose bumps.