A Far Reach for Little Arms

View during practice,
taken by my brother Anthony
who also rows

My mom is amazing. That statement doesn't even do justice to her level of awesomeness. On Saturday, I received a very special phone call from her. She was out of breath, emotional, and it sounded like she was outside. She was calling to tell me that for the first time in her almost ten years of competitive rowing, her team, Solano Rowing Club, won first place. They, competing as a women's team, even beat the time of the men's team. The other teams didn't even come close to their time, as you can see in the photo below. In all their years, they had never won first place.

Here's the kicker - they dedicated the race to Norah.

While they sat in the boat, waiting for their turn, my mom had a moment of inspiration  She told her team about her granddaughter. She said that Norah lives on a ventilator, and has to fight for every breath. And if she can fight, they can too. My mom dedicated the race to Norah, and was determined to race it for her. And they did exactly that. One of my mom's teammates, her good friend Pat, said that she used Norah as a point of meditation, imagining her face in one of the passing windows, as if she was watching the race and cheering them on.

Yes, SRC was really that fast!
Note how far behind second place was!

During the award ceremony, my mom overheard some people chatting, saying that there had to be an error, and there was no way that team could have that time. She faced these people, politely pardoned her intrusion, and firmly said that they had the race official check twice to be sure. I'm so proud of my mom. She's not the confrontational type, but she wasn't letting anyone negate their feat.

It goes to show that Norah's little arms have a far reach. She inspires people from afar that haven't even met her. And for those of you that have met her, you know how incredible she is. Everyone just wants to be around her. There is something about Norah that makes you feel so good. I'm proud to be her mom... especially because she inspires me, too. So for those of you that ever have wondered how it is that our family bears this burden, it would only take a few minutes with Norah to understand just how exactly we manage.

Mom and my brother Anthony at practice

First place!