I mentioned how whooped I was after Appleseed last weekend. But I had it easy. I was just walking in the rain. There's another gal I know I want to brag on a bit.
Mel, Paul's daughter came out last weekend to her first Appleseed.
Let me tell you something about Mel.
She's a young gal just starting out. She wants to work in IT, but hasn't had the chance to get much paying experience down yet, so she's working one of those barely-make-it, minimum wage jobs while saving for school to better herself.
She does not have the money or the time to waste frivolously.
Nonetheless, Mel took vacation and spent money that's hard for her to come by in order to stand out in a cold Alaskan rain all weekend. I saw that girl fighting a rifle that constantly jammed up on her - for a while it was so bad she was keeping tools beside her to clear failures to extract in the middle of timed strings. She laid down in cold and wet and tracked-in gravel on that mat time after time.
She soldiered on 'till her fingers were shaking so bad she couldn't keep that sight on the target, and kept coming back for more.
And after all that cold and pain and frustration, what did she do?
She ponied up her own money for an ROC card to come back and do it again.
..in April.
...in Alaska.
I am very, very proud of Mel.
This generation coming up now stands to hold I think America's best - and worst - people it's seen in at least half a century. It's an honor to say I think Mel is solidly going to be in the first half.
Well done girl - PERSISTENCE!
Now get on back and practice for next trip out. I'm wanna see that patch on you. :)
2 comments:
Your pride in Mel's performance is surpassed only by ours. Thank you for inviting her, and providing the means for her to get there.
Way to go Mel!
And Jenny, too, for providing a fine example, encouragement, and companionship.
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