You know, I can still remember that day when Muriel Curtis, the director of Station Maine, knocked on my front door and said “Hi! I’m one kid short for my hundred mile expedition down Penobscot Bay, so how would you like to come? You’ll be gone for two weeks and you’ll have to pack everything you need in a small pack that’ll fit under your thwart. You will get hungry and tired, sun burnt and windblown. You’ll row in the rain and the baking sun, but you’ll have fun!”
And some crazy part of me said yes to this insane woman that I had only ever met once before in my life. And you know what? To this day I am happy I did.
I have lived more in my short seven years with Station Maine than most people live in their entire lives. I have rowed all the way around the Island of Manhattan and raced in France and the Quebec 400 celebration against people from all different nations. I have been an ambassador for my country, my state, and my town.
I have rowed the fifteen miles out to Vinalhaven in 90º weather and all the way out, well, almost all the way out to the Statue of Liberty. Turns out our government doesn’t like you doing that anymore. I have raced against boys and have heard them brag when they finally beat me.
Truly I have lived a very full life and it’s just starting. I have so many people to thank for that. Muriel who caught me and dragged me in, my parents who put up with every crazy idea that ever happened in my life, and all the people all around the world who have welcomed me and rowed with me.