2 Years?!?

Wow -- I can't believe it's been more than two years since my last post. If you have been waiting for new material, which I sincerely doubt, I apologize for the delay and promise to try to do a better job in the future.

Today was a remarkable day. I will start at the end, as that is the part that prompted this post, and hopefully will inspire me continue writing, if not for you, for my own creative exercise. I spent time this evening with a new friend, Bob, whose schedule is more demanding than my own, yet somehow he finds time to share his thoughts with the world in blog form. So Bob -- you have unwittingly driven me to get back in the game, to pick up the laptop and write something other than email messages. Thanks. I think.

Bob and I have crossed paths accidentally once or twice by virtue of doing what we do for a living and sharing a strange compulsion for getting up early on chilly Sunday mornings in the fall and attempting to hit and throw a softball. We have developed what I think is the beginning of a great friendship, for which I am grateful. Bob is a damn good conversationalist, which is perhaps more important than all of the other notable things he has done in his life. Anyone who can sip a glass of good bourbon, smoke a B&H and talk for hours is pretty fucking awesome in my book.

The evening with Bob was preceded by an afternoon with four of the bravest, most beautiful and inspiring women I have ever met. They are from Iran, and they have changed my life. Katayoon, her daughter Roxana, and Shadi and Kimya, came to the United States from Iran to become masters at whitewater paddling, all in the hopes of becoming their country's first female whitewater paddling team to compete in the Olympics.

I am incredibly proud to know these women. Today, as we shared lunch and lovely conversation, I fought back tears at the thought of the meaning and impact of their journey to the United States, and the possibilities that lie ahead of them. I will think about these girls every day, and hope their dreams come true.

The experiences of this day have been humbling. I am reminded that life continues to provide wonderful opportunities to connect with other human beings, from around the world to across the street. Nothing I have achieved has come close to what my Iranian friends and Bob have done in their lives, but they serve as worthy models of what achievements are possible.

Thank you, friends.