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Picture
of the Day
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Friday
October 4,
2024
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we had all afternoon to get there so we opted to walk from andy & cara's house in st. paul, where we're staying, to my niece's wedding rehearsal dinner at my sister's condo in minneapolis. it was 7 miles, most of it along the mississippi river, first high above, then down to water level where floating leaves cast shadows on the sandy bottom. we paused under monumental bridges conjoining the twin cities, separated here by a gorge between high bluffs that echoed with the chants of a crew rowing past. i said to sarah, "if you've got enough left over to hoot and holler, you're not pulling hard enough." in my day, if you weren't puking, you were shirking. and you sure as shooting weren't shouting. it was grim determined silence punctuated by grunts and groans in the cold pre-dawn dark on cayuga lake. only the coxswain spoke and you hated them for it, always telling you what to do. how i envied those on shore then, blithely passing by, living normal lives. why couldn't i be them? why had i chosen this self-inflicted suffering? i never forgot that feeling, so now when i watch rowers from afar, i wonder if any of them sees and wishes they could trade places with me. i relished my liberty and moved on. |