Marley and Me

Recently, I drove several members of the RBHS Reach team to the Regional Finals in Hamilton, ON.

That's Reach, as in Reach for the Top. They just call it Reach, now. RBHS was undefeated in the season and was playing in the Golden Horseshoe Championship Division.

At the first match, I met Marley, Jason's grandmother. Jason is the captain of the Intermediate Reach Team. This was the first Reach tournament either Marley or I had attended. I made a joke about having the air horn in my purse; Marley said that was good since she brought a cow bell. Regardless of how the team did, it looked like Marley and I were going to have a great day.

Marley is an exceptional lady. She lost her husband to ALS three years ago. She regularly assists a friend whose 2 sons are autistic. "Autism is a troubling disease," she stated. She is a cancer survivor and now worries about her friend in the old neighborhood who is battling the terrible disease. "Another friend," she told me, "has a young daughter, not as young as you... Anyway, the daughter, she struggles with depression. Disease is so troubling," she says. She joked that she knows some healthy people, too. "At this age, that number is getting smaller," she remarked.

A little later, Marley declared, "Everybody has something which causes them pain or worry. What weighs on your mind, Chris?" she asked. I sketched out just enough to support the theory. I happen to subscribe to that same principle: we all have stuff we're dealing with.

Jason ran in just then and told us we were late for their last match of the round-robin. RBHS won that match and carried their undefeated record into the Championship game.

The team faced Blakelock in the Main Event. RBHS was well-back after the first two rounds. It was the first time all day they were behind. In the third round, the students launched a comeback and never looked back. Congratulations to Team Wild, Golden Horseshoe Reach Champions.

"My grandmother does this all the time," Jason apologized and rolled his eyes.

"Don't apologize," I told him. "I've had a wonderful day. It has been my pleasure to meet her."

[School Reach Competition] [Halton Region]