Lessons from Dogsledding

I heard them before I saw them. Barking wildly, a team of 8 dogs, harnessed together, came whipping around the snow-packed corner. Pulling a sled with a driver behind them, this team of very excited huskies slowed as the “musher” brought them to a well-trained stop. Will, our seasoned dogsled guide in the Colorado Rockies,…

Scoring For the Wrong Team

My teammates were bewildered.  My coach was dismayed.  The crowd was confused. My 8th grade basketball team was pitted against a rival team that very cold night in 1982. It was one of those small town, everyone-gets-hot-under-the-collar kind of games.  The kind where, when you’re 14-years old, feels like a life or death match. At…

Seeing the Invisibles

It had to weigh at least 60 pounds.  Just seconds after it hit the ground, a drably dressed pooper-scooper had the honor of shoveling up that steaming pile of elephant dung and removing it from between the circus tents where people were milling around. It was a hot summer day and I had taken my…