My son Renny is a freshman at Harvard. He is on the crew team which means he rows, a lot. He rows for hours a day and he loves this. The rowers can be found on the water at dawn and dusk. They train and train and are the fittest of the fit. A race they have before Christmas consists of erging 7,500 meters, running five miles and then doing all the 150 steps in the 37 portals of the stadium. They love this too. They are pure steel with no rust.

They row against each other, against other schools like MIT, Princeton, Northeastern, Yale, and Brown. As a parent you go to the races and I love this although one glimpses only a few seconds of the actual race – which ranges from 5-6 minutes, depending on the wind conditions and the skill of the people on the boat.

The rowers are tall, very tall. Renny is 6’4" and looks normal standing amidst his team. A boat has 8 oars and a cox. They row in rain and snow although Annapolis called to cancel a race last week due to weather conditions. Our NAVY worried about weather on the water. Do we need to worry about our country’s safety, I wondered? I love to stand next to my tall son and his friends and watch them launch their shells and paddle softly away. The pageantry of colored oars, sleek boats, perfect specimens of men and women, the solidarity and bonding. I am so glad Renny rows.

By Tina