My mom isn’t next to me right in the physical sense but she is next to me. She always is. And even when my mom was alive but not next to me she was still always with me. It was a promise she made to me when I was young and something she would...
Continue readingSqueeze
On the bus. At lunch. During a boring meeting. Squeeze the words out when and where you can. Like a breast full of milk that becomes stiff if the baby doesn’t nurse, so do we become stiff and immovable if we do not write. Words can bind us up if we don’t get them...
Continue readingRandom thoughts While On the Bus
On cats Delete it all Why should I have to move Headache Smells bad Too much cologne Should I eat the larabar Stop touching me Why don’t you care What am I doing with my life Will I ever (fill in the blank) Communicating in movie quotes Random and old Is it beer o’clock...
Continue readingSay Hello
It takes no effort whatsoever to look up make eye contact with someone and say hello. Instead of staring down at the concrete as you’re walking to your bus make an effort look over at the person walking towards you, connect with them, and just say hello. You could even do the little nod...
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Squirrels And Onions
Not writing when you feel the need to write is like adding all of the layers of an onion back onto the onion one at a time with super glue. Then the onion becomes much more difficult to peel the next time around. Sometimes you forget about a layer. Sometimes you can’t remember the...
Continue readingSunrises, Eagles and Herons, and Soggy Pants
I started coaching at the Pocock Rowing Center in August 2015. My very first on the water experience was riding in the launch with Bill Clifford, the Varsity Junior Boys head coach. The weather was incredible. We took a few eights out into Lake Union. The sun was glistening off the water, partially blinding...
Continue readingMy Philosophy On Seat Racing
The goal of seat racing is not to win your seat race. Blasphemy. But how do you expect to make the boat if you aren’t trying to win? The problem is you are focusing on what’s good for you and not what’s good for the team. Most of us don’t understand that seat racing...
Continue readingThe Call
I can feel it still. I see video of myself rowing when I was in my prime. I can feel the impulse, the rhythm, the power. I don’t row much at all anymore. I’m on the water coaching too many hours of the day to have the energy to get out and put in...
Continue readingDodgeball
When I was in first grade I was a major tomboy. Not really a surprise considering I grew up with two older brothers that I was either in competition with, being chased by, or being taught sneaky tricks to win a game. In gym class we would occasionally have a substitute teacher. Most of us...
Continue readingReplaceable
Let’s recount the past three weeks of life as context: car accident resulting in a totaled car and severe whiplash. Missed work. Miss job interviews. Botched spring break for my wife. Fear when driving through intersections on a daily basis. Two ER visits. A torn rotator cuff. Wearing an f-ing sling on my arm...
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