Sipping on Kool-aid

When I told some friends the other night that my oldest is rowing this spring, one remarked that the sport is like a cult. Well, after today's event, the first race (but not regatta)of the season, I'm ready to sign in blood, and I haven't even lifted an oar. It might have been the crisp air that reached us on the deck of the boat house, the way the kids respected the ritual of the boat, the lowering, the lifting, and of course the rowing in unison across the water's surface under the grand arches of Key Bridge. The coach let parents know that crew is the ultimate team sport, and I thought of the countless lessons my can learn by operating on a in a group where every role is necessary. Today, when the ice-cold, refreshing, strawberry Kool-aid was passed around, I drank it down and asked for seconds.