One More Day, Me Johnnies, One More Day...

Blowing town tomorrow morning, bound for Connecticut and, more specifically, the St. Vincent's Foundation Swim Across the Sound, which takes place this Saturday, August 1. The Swim raises funds to help lower-income cancer patients and their families meet their costs of living, assisting with groceries, rent, mortgages, etc., which, as a cancer survivor myself, is something I admire - raising funds for the Here and Now, as opposed to strictly long-term, academic purposes, like research.

For the last several years, my uncle donates the services of his 40' Hatteras sportfishing boat as an escort vessel for one of the many relay teams that comprise the field of competition. I'm not one of the swimmers, but rather the mate, which means I primarily drive the boat, assist the swimmers and any of the countless other odds and ends that need doing. This will be the second Swim - which begins at Port Jefferson, Long Island, and makes the 15 or 20-mile crossing of Long Island Sound before putting in at Captain's Cove in Bridgeport, Connecticut - in which I've participated. A line of ferocious thunderstorms forced officials to call last year's race less than halfway through (in such a case, the GPS coordinates of each vessel at the time the race was called are used to determine the winner). However, the disappointment at having the race cut short was quickly dispelled with an earlier-than-scheduled arrival at the bar at Captain's Cove. And regardless, the funds - totaling something like $2.6 million - had been raised.

Here's to better weather this year...