29 April 2010

Small Rebound from Vancouver

Every now and then us mortals see at least a flash of something very special.  On April 28th, Steve Mesler of the Gold Medal winning four man US Bobsled Team from the Vancouver Olympics came to the Board of Education meeting in Buffalo NY.  Steve is a graduate of Buffalo's City Honors High School, and had come at the request of the Board.  A colleague who knows him introduced us, and I had a very nice chat which included a chance to hold that gold medal for a little while.  On a very visceral level, I felt the meaning of the phrase "vicarious thrill."  My colleague had also already told him of Liz' dream, and he chatted with me for a while about the long, hard preparation of performance at that level.  He'd trained for two years in Lake Placid and then seven in Calgary!