St. Patty's Day Inspiration

Disclaimer: In the interest of posting but without a lot of time, this is an unedited version. The message is still good:) Read on:

On St. Patty’s Day I walked downtown after I got off work (a night not as crazy as I expected and feared) and checked out the scene at McMenamin’s.

It was a mild night, beautiful with stars and blackness, no moon. People milled about, wearing anything from cat-in-the-hat fuzzy green tophats to down jackets to green beer glasses. Drunkenness permeated the atmosphere and I enjoyed my sobriety and ability to laugh quietly at those who were not. I saw a lot of people I knew, talked to a lot or at least said hi, and this brought home to me what a community I have here in Bend.

The highlight of my night was something Brett, Nina’s roommate, said. He came up and said hi in his mile-a-minute way of talking that makes you feel important and rushed and funny and said he’d read my blog. (Ooh, I thought, he’s reading it? Cool. I wonder who else is?) He said he’d really been into paddling in college, but all he’d been doing since he came to Bend was working. On Friday he’d gone climbing with Nina (one of my climbing partners) and Jer, and how now he had to use his legs instead of his arms to climb since he didn’t have any arm strength anymore. He said that my passion for climbing inspired him to get back into his passions; instead of spending all his time hanging out with friends, he said he wanted to start doing things with his friends. He’s started taking Friday and Monday afternoons off to go have fun, to pursue his passions.

I inspired somebody!