Serendipity

Admittedly, no post was planned for today, but when you are “present in the moment”, you discover things that would otherwise go unnoticed.

At approximately 3:17 pm this afternoon, one of my interns placed a letter on my desk, a letter I would have typically transferred to the circular file.  The letter was dated January, 2011, but because all mail sent to Congressional offices is irradiated at a facility in the Midwest, we receive it about one month later.

The letter was written by Patrick Crowley, Chairman of the Board of the Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery!  One week ago, I didn’t even know the Congressional Cemetery existed and so, to receive a letter from them a mere 4 days after my visit on Sunday was serendipitous indeed.  (See Post from Monday - Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gay Men’s Chorus Concert)

Before noticing the date at the top, I began to read the letter and secretly hoped that Chairman Crowley had heard of our pilgrimage to this historic site and wanted little ol’ me to become the national spokesperson for their preservation efforts.  Or maybe he would want me to perform a costume karaoke benefit harkening back to my performance days in Portland, Maine!  Could this truly be happening?  Doubtful – so I reached for a chicken cutlet to slap across my face and quickly snapped out of it as the true intent of the letter became clear.

Generically sent to Hill Staffers, it was to announce that this year they would be launching a 5K benefit event called Dead Man’s Run to help restore our country’s first national cemetery as it ascends to the rank of National Historic Landmark.  In short, it was a recruitment effort to register Congressional teams for the run.  Ok – exercise and not singing.  Hmmmm?

The significance of the moment not lost on me, I chatted with others in the office about forming a team and sincere interest ensued. The 5K run is slated for May 8^th.

So here’s the deal.  We’re going to do it!  Let the games begin.  With the nicer weather coming, I’ve been looking for a reason to start training hard again, and this might just be it.  There’s also those  last pounds to lose in the effort to reach the ever elusive goal of 155, which I was sorely reminded of this past weekend as my good friend Gary announced he had in fact reached his goal.  And boy does he look great!  Not that I am competitive or anything.

Maybe the answer to “are we there yet?” begins and ends at Congressional Cemetery, symbolically I hope and not literally.  They say all roads lead to Rome, but for me I am starting to think most roads at least lead somewhere up to Capitol Hill, perhaps more specifically the Congressional Cemetery.