I sat momentarily mezmerized watching tiny drops of the salty water drip from the nose of my paddle board on to the hood of my car after an intense training session in the warm, green Pacific early this morning.

I broke from the spell of the dripping water and broke-fast as I took a righteous swig of hot, black coffee to wash down a large savory bite of some home chicken, feeling more regal and content than I could imagine any king or prince could feel.

In that moment of soulful rapture it dawned on me, that in addition to appreciation, I also share affiliation and kinship with those sweet, cooky transcendentalists that I was introduced to so many, many years ago. Thank you  #PaulWann, and #AlFinn, #GDA, I am forever obliged and better for it. Uncle Henry’s below thought continues to inspire my life, down to the smallest moments.

““I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.”

Friendship, strength and honor,

Coach Cris