"What I Did on Summer Vacation"

Every Autumn at the beginning of a new school year, countless teachers across countless classrooms pose the age-old question to an incoming crop of fresh-faced students:

"What did you do over summer vacation?"

I'm sure anyone of you can recall a year in grade school or maybe even middle or high school when that one teacher's first assignment was this very question -- and you probably remember what you wrote whether you went to summer camp, grandpa's farm, the big family vacation of a lifetime to DisneyWorld or some other world wonder destination! :D

One of the bigget benefits of being in education is continuing to have summer's off and the seasonal rhythm of the school-year calendar--it's almost like never having to really have grow up!

The downside of the summer's off upside--is that in education there's also limited grown-ups to interact with on a daily basis which means you're pretty much surrounded by kids all day. (In my case, these students don't speak English as their heritage language either--which is subject for a whole 'nother blog!) To live in the same small community as work-- can also leave you feeling a little left out of all that is going on in the grown-up real world. When people ask if I "live in the 'burg?", I often reply, "No, I'm dying a slow painful death of obscurity there!"

Okay, that's a bit melodramatic, but as we all know too much of even a good thing is too much! I've learned the best balance to living in the 'burg is to get out of it on a regular basis.

So that is exactly "What I did with my summer vacation."

And it turned out pretty fun! The following article is what can happen when small town girl hits the big city --or at least the West Coast:


Subject: Zac Sunderland (17 yr old to sail world) article by Tamara Leigh-- fun day in CA
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2009

ZAC SUNDERLAND & Living Life Large Like Gump

Zac Sunderland, age 17 years old, sailed into Marina del Rey, California on Thursday, July 17, 2009, as the youngest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe. On June 14, 2008, in his 1972 36' Islander Sailboat, Zac launched his 28,000 nautical mile voyage across the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, with stops in ports in nearly every continent. Zac survived raging storms with sleepless nights, equipment failure, the dead zone of the doldrums, and close encounters of the personal kind--with real world pirates.

A far way from my own home, that same morning of Zac's world breaking news story, I was out for a run a few blocks from the Marina when the opportunity arose for me to attend Zac's homecoming reception and press conference with a colleague of Craig Communications Company, which was being covered by ESPN, the major networks and news services at the Del Rey Yacht Club.

In Forrest Gump fashion, and not one to turn down a notable event, I jumped in the shower and threw on the most nautical outfit I packed this trip. At the Yacht Club, I had the opportunity to meet Zac, get his autograph and take a photo with him. Zac is the same age as my own son, and as unassuming as any teenage guy despite his extraordinary accomplishment.

Of his trip, Zac says, "It's hard to comprehend everything I've had the privilege to experience. After more than a year alone at sea, I'm struck by how much people my age can actually achieve, if only they have the passion and ability to think beyond what society tells them is possible."

Addressing his audience inside the Yacht Club, Zac thanked his sponsors*, supporters, and most of all, his parents, then sat down to eat and hang out with his friends. In a room filled with accomplished individuals in their own right, like Praxis Universal's Brett Thompson, producer and documentarian chronicalling Zac's expedition, I found myself seated next to Mr. Lowell M.I. Safier, President of Evon Matheau, Inc. Lowell is at the opposite end of the age spectrum from Zac and has compiled as long as a lifetime resume as Zac is likely to acquire if he keeps up his current clip of achievements.

As humble as Zac, Lowell's perspective of life as a voyage is that each of our lives are measured by the "contrails we leave in the sky," or in Zac's case, the wake in the water behind him as he sailed. "Contrails," Lowell explained, "are the trails of smoke left by the airplane as it passes, and it is these lines that identify our lives. Where are we going, where have we been, and what do we do to leave our mark?"

I also had the privilege to meet Zac's parents, Laurence and Marianne Sunderland. Zac is the oldest of seven children, and as the mother of five myself, I know more kids does not mean less worry for any one of them. As Zac's younger siblings swirled around their mother, I knew what relief she must feel now to have Zac safely home...for the moment. Zac, nor the rest of the Sunderland crew, are not likely to be ones to sit still safely on the shore for long. My heart goes out to this amazing mom for many more long nights, weeks, months, and years ahead awaiting the safe return of adventurous children.

When I asked Zac's dad how they balanced the incredible pride in Zac's expedition with it's accompanied anxiety for his safety, survival, and success, Laurence said he was confident in Zac's preparation the three years prior to setting sail and knowing Zac grew up more at home on water than on land.

I suspected, and it proved to be true, that Zac's parents had schooled him not only in the skills of sailing, but in living life with fortitude of spirit, faith in himself and faith in God. In an era of "hover-parents", who cripple and confine what their childlren might accomplish, it was refreshing to be in the company of parents who empowered their children to take on the world--and that is exactly what Zac did! We need more kids like Zac and more parents like the Sunderlands.

Zac and his parents reminded me of another maker of heroic men, the late, great Vince Lombardi, Coach of the Green Bay Packers in Wisconsin, who said, "I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle [or in Zac's case, the cabin of boat]--victorious.

In what started out as an ordinary day for me, turned into a "Forrest Gump"-like movie moment in an extraordinary opportunity to meet Zac Sunderland, his parents, Laurence and Marianne, and be on board for Zac's historic voyage return celebration.

My own 17 year-old son has been lobbying hard for a motorcycle, and I've refused saying they're sold with a body bag. (Okay, so I know they're not really, but motorcycle accidents scare me.) The storms of life left me and my family capsized and cautious, far removed from the faith and adventure that used to mark life in our household a decade ago, not unlike the Sunderlands. After a day in the midst of such accomplishment as Zac's, I'm inspired with restored confidence in all that can be achieved --at any age.

> > > *Sponsors for Sunderland's expedition include Produce for Kids, UK Halsey Sailmakers, ClearPoint Weather, RealSweet, Sunset Tomatos, Westlake Yacht Club, Bandacorp.com<http://bandacorp.com/>, Pinkston Group Public Relations, Sunderland's Yacht Management, Schafer Marine, Boat Us, SearMar Marine Spot, Quickline, and Oboroo. For more information on sponsors and Zac Sunderland's expedition, visit www.zacsunderland.com<http://www.zacsunderland.com/>.