Earlier in the week, Brad, a fellow Connecticut Mariner sailor who participated in this past August’s Rendezvous from Niantic to Mystic Seaport, contacted me and asked if I would meet him on Thursday at a local diner so he could treat me to ice cream as repayment for a favor. I agreed and met him at the diner, whereupon he said he had a gift to give me. He brought it out, and when I opened it, I was absolutely dumbfounded - there was this incredible tote bag made of repurposed sails with the Mariner logo on one side and "1922" with "Orion" on the other - even in the same font as what is on the transom of my boat! Brad went on to explain how all the Rendezvous attendees chipped in to buy this for me as a thanks for organizing the Rendezvous. And not only that, there was cash and a gift card; Brad explained that your generous contributions exceeded the cost of the tote bag, so he put it toward a gift card to Defender to give to me as well.
Let me tell you - I was absolutely blown away. It is an incredibly generous gift, and I can't thank everyone enough. When I went back to work from the diner, I showed the tote bag to everyone at work. When I went home that night, I showed it to my family. I told our cat to get out of it so she wouldn't tear it with her claws. I called up my folks the following morning on my way into work and told them about it.
It's a lot of fun for me to put these Rendezvous together, especially when it all works out and folks have a good, fun, and safe event with their Mariners. Whether you have attended them from the very beginning in 2009 or you just came to your first one this past August, you are part of the Rendezvous "family," and I look forward to seeing everybody each year.
Thanks especially to Brad, for coming up with the idea and spearheading this special gift. It means a great deal to me, and I thank all the Rendezvous participants from the bottom of my heart.
