Re: Nationals - thank you

["Bill Thebert" <bthebert@domain.elided>]

At the risk of sounding sappy, "angels" come in all shapes, sizes and
appearances.  Or perhaps an "angel" is just a spirit of kindness that
motivates an otherwise normal person to go above & beyond the call of duty
for someone else.  Or maybe it's as simple as "good things happen to good
people", and we all just live right.

Whatever theology you espouse, there was "heroic kindness" aplenty in the
upper MidWest this past weekend.

Eldon & Rose McFarling -- though they were planning on attending anyway --
might certainly and understandably have elected to skip the trip, if not
for knowing that they were needed by a fellow Digester along they way. 
They towed my disabled Dakota from Bloomington, IL to the Fairgrounds in
Springffield, OH. 

Jim Shepherd -- a man I'd heard of and perhaps spoken to for about 60
seconds at RMIHR -- came looking for *ME* to ask if I needed him to pull my
Dakota and trailer back to Colorado.

Mike Eppinger going out of his way to pick up Tom Mandera at the airport; 
Tom in turn providing moral support to Mike in his time of need;  the
Muncies pitching in with tools and advice where needed;  the Korstens
delaying their westbound departure so that we could all caravan on I-70
after the awards presentation ceremony;  the Comers and John Glancy
pitching in tools, transportation and repair expertise . . .

And these are just a FEW of the "incidents" that happened to touch my small
circle of experience.  I'm confident that there are many, many more about
which I will never know.

It's a remarkable nation-wide and even world-wide community that we've
begun to build here.  The fellowship and kindness goes way beyond just
tapping on so many keyboards.  It contains the talents and resources to
rise to just about any occasion.

As I said during one of my more sentimental moments during the awards
presentation -- the trucks are just iron, and are clearly secondary.  What
makes the weekend "magic" is the people.  It's like a reunion.  I think we
could leave the trucks home & gather in an empty field and it would still
be satisfying.

As these trucks of ours get older and older, it will become even more
important for us to "stay connected" in this way.  And we're using all
kinds of "new tools" to achieve this end -- with a great degree of success,
I might add.

My hat's off to all who are part of the "magic".

Bill Thebert
The Binder Bulletin