Three Days!

So one of the more amusing things that has happened onstage at Syosset High School (at least as long as I've been directing the shows) was during our production of Fiddler on the Roof back in the spring of 2002 (can it really be eight years ago?). During the scene where the constable comes to tell Tevye and the other villagers that they have to vacate in three days the villagers talk amongst themselves and one of the actors had the line, "three days?!". Only the actor forgot his line. There was that awkward silence on stage as everyone knew someone had forgot their line and were waiting for someone to say somthing. Suddenly you saw the actor who was supposed to speak (he probably heard the crickets chirp http://www.naturesongs.com/cricket1.wav) get that deer in the headlights look:

And all of a sudden at the top of his lungs he shouted, "THREE DAYS!?"

Well the excitement I feel today at the prospect of our Victory Ride only being THREE DAYS away is similar. It makes me feel sort of like this;

Ahhh, if only I looked that good in my cycling jersey! Instead, I look more like this;

But even though I'm not sprintng for the big win at the Tour de France, I feel like we're really making a difference and doing something for others. As of this morning we've raised just under $3000 towards the campers at Sunrise Day Camp and I'm really hoping we can possibly get another $1000 before/by Sunday. It really feels like we're doing something positive here. And the fact that it is coming together so quickly is really the most amazing part of it all. Amy (my Amy, that is) has already started talking about the logistics of promoting the ride for next year. My hope is that we can make this an annual event on Long Island and really turn it into a great charity ride!

On another note, today has been a mostly good day. I haven't been sobbing or overly angry about anything and I'm really trying to embrace life. I miss my departed family members, oddly enough more so now than when they were still with us. My thoughts have been on them and their families fairly constantly over the last two weeks and that is a good thing. For as long as we remember them and pass on those remembrances of them to others, they live on.

So I ride and I think of them. I ride and I try to envision the camper(s) that will be helped by what we will do in three days. I ride and I think of others who are facing the disease that is called cancer. And I ride and I thank God that he has given me all the gifts he has bestowed on me - talent, passion, career, students, friends, family, children, and a loving, supportive wife. I truly am a rich man - Yada deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum!

Stay well and I'll see you on the road, especially in THREE DAYS!!!!