It’s well known by now, the story of my mother’s famous cheer. How it embarrassed us as we traversed the world of youth sports, high school sports, and, for my brother and I, college sports!  My mom would open her mouth and give a ear-shattering "woo" chant over and over again.

What am I doing in Fargo, North Dakota, standing in the Fargo Dome (Home of the North Dakota State Bison)? Well, I’m staring at the starting line of my second marathon, wondering whether I will have I what it takes to finish.

After two days of canoeing past Cedar Island, the Mar-A-Largo of Calvin Coolidge’s presidency, and taking on a very small rapids, we had had our fill of canoeing.

Just as I was ready to be disappointed in humanity again...

“Well, I might have immigration issues so I don’t know what the future holds,” he said between strides. The comment nearly stopped me in my tracks.

I hit send on the button and there it was, confirmation I had just signed up for the last two “classes” requirements to finish my Master’s Degree. Readings and Research is all I have left on the agenda, minus the last four papers due in Environmentally Policy. That class is well over half over so I’m rounding up and counting it as done in my head

It’s impossible to do an event called “Glory Days” and take a trip down high school memory lane. The first thought I had, while preparing my story for the event, was that, whoever coined the term, “these are the best four years of your life,” was wrong.

The only hiccup was the ball-of-energy kid, who challenged authority and got bored within five seconds. My boss told me this kid had been kicked out of a number of other daycare programs and they were worried he might not make it through the summer with us.