August 7, 2006 - On the Road Again (for the last time)

It has been a long weekend. Friday my mom and I spent the day packing all my worldly possessions into the back of our mini van. Saturday, she and my Dad and I drove down to Wake and set up my room. We finished off the process Sunday morning, they took off early that afternoon, and then I re-packed a suitcase for the upcoming 3 weeks. Monday morning I met with a few people at the business school, the law school, and the Learning Assistance Center where I get my print textbooks translated into electronic formats, and then my Resident Advisor Laura drove me to Raleigh to catch a plane to Philadelphia, where I am now. It was a pretty long and miserable flight that was delayed in both departing and landing by weather, but at least I had some funny people in the seats with me who shared advice on everything from black jack to relationships. I think the key to both is being patient and not forcing things.
Right now I am at the Tarbox home, once again. I’m a little worried that I might wear out my welcome here. Fortunately this is the last night that I’ll need to stay with them. Last time I was here I sent flowers. I’ll have to think of something else to do after Worlds just to say “thank you” one more time.
The next 3 weeks are going to be incredible and incredibly busy. I will travel to Princeton tomorrow to row with Jesse for the week. Friday we’ll return to Philadelphia and train there for about 8 days, and on the 19th we’ll fly out to Eton where we’ll be racing. I will return home on August 28 and attend classes on August 29th. I’ve got tons of work to do already to make up for the days that I’ll be missing. Thankfully there will be some down time between practices.
I think this would be my dream life, if I could choose one. I love rowing that much. It’s fun to be on the road again, because I feel like I can really focus just on the race and my crew. Though I’ll be reading a lot of law texts and doing some writing assignments, they shouldn’t be too distracting. Hopefully I’ll get everything done before flying out to England, anyway, so that I’ll be able to really soak up that experience.
I’ve had many well-wishes and lots of encouragement from friends and family. Thanks to all of you for that. We’ll do our dead-level best to bring home some coin, preferably of the gold variety.
One last thing. I’ve put the “Faith” and “Courage” bracelets back on my right wrist. If you’ll recall, Jocelyn gave them to me on my first day of selection camp. I took them off when I returned home after that, but it seems appropriate to be wearing them again. Faith… Courage… There couldn’t be any better two words to describe what I need right now.