Jeanine and I joined my sister, Alissa, and her family to witness the graduation of her son and my nephew, John William, from Babson College. John has been a frequent and most welcome visitor in our home over the last four years and we hope his sister, Rachel, will follow suit when she begins her freshman year at Babson in the fall. At 52 my sister is still quite a saucy number and we were thrilled to join her and husband John for the momentous occasion.

Later in the day we travelled to Lowell to watch Maya compete in a rowing regatta. She coxed an eight in her first qualifier. With twenty yards to go and a commanding lead, her number one seat “caught a crab” bringing the boat to a complete stop. Recovering the oar from under the boat and resetting the crew took almost 30 seconds. So great was their lead that they still managed to place first by the narrowest of margins.