One Hell of a Week!!

This past week has been long but really exciting. I drove eleven hours back to Tennessee last Sunday for a family reunion, and although I didn't get a chance to visit with any high school friends, I did make it out to the lake for a couple of sails and a cookout with some of my sailing buddies at the yacht club. Tuesday evening was the infamous gathering of characters and sailors - some novices, others, old salts - but all willing to exchange sailing tips and stories at LATH. I had the privilege of sailing with David Perrine, past commodore and storyteller extraordinaire. We actually had wind and with a great crew (my Dad, Denise, and Susan) we had an awesome sail with a few "exciting" moments.

While talking with other sailors at LATH, my dad was able to get us on the club boat, an O'Day 23, with some friends for a race Wednesday night. Although I was a champion collegiate rower in a former life, I've never had much interest in racing sailboats. What's the point? Look at them, with those big white things sticking out over the side, they're designed to go slow. It probably doesn't help that I was introduced to sailing by a couple of cruisers, but for whatever reason, I sail to slow down, not to speed up and certainly not to race. But hell, with how little wind we get on the lake I figured, why not? We'll go so slow it'll be like cruising anyways. Well, race day arrived and as the saying goes, "If there is wind today, the race is tomorrow." Wednesday evening I learned that there's a lot of truth in that saying. We had storms all day, and when they parted at race time they took the wind with them. After debating for an hour the warning horn came and went in silence, then what would have been the starting horn, and by the time we would have possibly rounded the windward mark, we were sitting down to eat burgers on the clubhouse deck. It was a great night. My mom even made it out after a hard day at work - she usually misses LATH and Wednesday night races because she works thirty minutes away. We all had a great exchange of lies and lessons and a couple of hours and bottles of wine later I was saying goodbye to good friends who my parents will see next week but who I probably won't see until next year. I'm lucky to have such great people to say goodbye to, but I do hate it so.

Friday my parents and I took the O'Day out. We had a little wind when we left the dock, but by the time we made it out of the cove there was not a ripple on the water. The temperature was only 88 degrees, but with 80-90% humidity, it was hotter than hell - Satan would have been melting. After lowering the sails and motoring to another cove across the lake, I was given the blessed task of anchoring. Fortunately the O'Day does not have a big anchor, instead it has a small danforth. After lowering the anchor and backing the boat down it was time for wine and cheese. I never really got to the wine though - the water was so much more refreshing. After sweating our body weight I raised the anchor, and the sails, and we headed - slowly - back to the marina.

That night my sister and brother-in-law drove in from Knoxville. I had been thrilled to see my dog on Sunday, and I was even more excited to see her two dogs. We spent the weekend catching up on the past six months, and on Saturday we went to the reunion at a relative's house. My aunt and uncle had flown in from Dallas for the weekend, and since no one in the family has really visited recently everyone spent the afternoon together getting reacquainted. Everyone had a good time, and by the next day the aunt and uncle were back in Texas, and my sister and brother-in-law were back in Knoxville. I left yesterday morning at six a.m. and drove back to Tampa.

During the drive down, while I was driving through Tifton, (the most boring part of the drive), my dad called to say that he had been hired by MRA - a company that he had interviewed with that Thursday. The Thursday before I had left for Tennessee, I had gone to an interview at Staples, and I had been asked to come back for a second interview today. I arrived at eleven and interviewed with the general manager. An hour later I was on my home with a job. I go in tomorrow at ten to do paperwork and begin training. I'm excited to be working in some area of retail other than clothing, and everyone that I've met so far has been great. It seems like a place I'll fit in. I guess that tomorrow I'll find out!

As the title says, it's been one hell of a week. It was great to go home and see family and friends. I only wish that I could have seen some of my high school friends, but it was a packed week and they were out of town. I'm sure I'll be back around Christmas so hopefully my friends will be too. Aside from some new construction and the Nissan headquarters, Franklin is exactly as I left it - quiet, quaint, and still too small for me. I have to admit, I felt a bit constricted after my first day there. It was nice to shift gears out of "city" living and slow down for a while, but I missed Tampa, and now I'm ready to go again. Chris and I are moving into our apartment this Friday, although we won't get our bed until Saturday, and I am, finally, employed! It's just a college job, but, then again, I am a college student. It was my dad getting hired though that made this the perfect week. He's been working excessively hard networking and going to informational meetings. Many of his friends have gotten jobs recently, and although he has been more than happy and supportive for all of them, it is nice to see him finally "make it" too. It has been a long time coming, but it's here. Way to go Dad!! Alright, well, I have to be at work at ten tomorrow, so I'll write more later. Sorry this one was so long, but I've been busy. They say that when it rains, it pours. I've learned the hard way that that's true. It's too bad no one has ever noticed that when the clouds do finally break, the sunshine pours too. It's those breaks that remind me that life is really something spectacular - go live it!