It’s Not for the Weak

​This rowing thing, it’s not for the faint of heart. Because it’s 4:30 AM wake up calls and six days a week practice and nutrition guidance, and collaboration, communication and connection. And that’s just the parents.

What’s interesting is that it quickly becomes a community. It becomes something that your child loves to do. Softball was a fabulous sport for her, and she had natural athletic ability. But she was exceptionally hard on herself. And most practices and game days would end in fifths of anxiety and levels of stress and tears that were not worth it.

So last summer when her friend, Olive, asked her to join Crew camp at the last second and we willingly threw her in with no time to spare, you could not have paid me $1000 to realize that I would be up before dawn, driving across the state to learn terms like regatta, Cox Quad, and catching a crab. 

I am somewhere on the east side of the state at a preparatory Academy where the starting tuition is $45,000. The campus is stunning. The families are warm and engaging. The private boathouse leads out to multiple docs where the students launch in rapid succession.

Boat one is on the water by 8:20 AM and it is a constant stream of eight person, four person and two person votes gliding across the water as the clouds float by. It is a brisk morning starting out at 33° on its way toward a high of 47°. In May.

She even had tears this morning after the eight person race that she is the coxswain for. They bumped oars while sitting in lane six waiting for the firing gun with the boat in lane five. And the boys got mad at her. Yes, she is screeching at the top of her lungs across a huge lake to eight freshman boys who would probably not like to take direction from a girl. And it bothers her sometimes. They still finish second. They’re on their way to the finals. And I’m exceptionally proud of her.

Because this is what we do for our kids when they find something they love. In the meantime she’s found a love. Her very first one. He’s in the same boat as she is. And he pushes her to be a better human and he adores every inch of her. I can’t complain.

It is a Crew romance… And it might last two weeks, two months or maybe even longer but for now it puts a smile in her face and a spring in her step.