The compliment of a lifetime

I decided to skip "Reno: Day 4 (the journey home)" because it was a day I'd really rather forget. Now back to the regualrly scheduled journal entry...

I was hired as a referee this past weekend for the NC Divisional Champs. No big deal, as I've done it several times before. I had originally planned on fencing in it, but with the stupid broken thumb, it makes things kind of difficult. Regardless, I was looking forward to the chance to show that I am now a quite competant 3 weapon ref (as I used to only do Epee and sabre).

Thursday, I started getting some nasty allergy-type symptoms. Oh well, it's that time of year, right? NOT! By Friday evening, I had a full-blown head cold, and was not much looking forward to being on my feet all weekend. However, there was no way I could call in sick, as they were already quite short of competant referees as it were. So, I toughed it out. I drove up and crashed around 10PM in my hotel room.

Woke up early the next morning, and got some breakfast, and drove to the venue.

Original counts: about 12 referees and 12 strips. Goodie. Feeling much worse than the previous evening, I sat through the referee meeting and the early discussions of how lo ng the day would be. Fine. We begin the day, and I reffed epee all morning, which about put me to sleep in my medicine induced stupor. About 2:30 PM, I was told to take my lunch break. Shortly after I had sat down, The "ref in charge" told me that I really didn't look well, so I should go home. I (stubborn as usual) told him that I was there to work, and if I could just have a little break, I would get myself back up and finish out the day. He told me to report back at about 4PM. (That's a much longer break than I had asked for, but it turns out, I needed it.)

I literally laid down on the gym floor with a fencing jacket undermy head and tried to rest. But the point is, I got back up and finished the day (which dragged on to about 10PM).

When I got back to the hotel I threw up for about 2 hours. After that....sleep! When I woke up, I realized I had overslept, and was already late for my 8 AM report time. Ugh....made a few phone calls, checked out of the hotel, and off I went for day #2. Foil.....almost all freakin' day. No worries though. I was super confident with every call I made. :D

"Ref in charge" says: "Remind me to talk to you later." The first thing that goes through my head is, "Oh crap. He's gonna yell at me because somebody complained about a call, or he thinks I screwed his fencer, or something.....just what I need."

Later on, he catches me semi-alone:
Ref in Charge: "Hey....what I wanted to talk to you about earlier..."
Me: "Yes?"
RIC: "Wife (also a ref) and I were discussing things last night, and we wanted to let you know how inpressed we were that you were able to get back up after that break yesterday and finish things out."
Me: "Thanks....I'm stubborn, and I came here to work."
RIC: "But not only that, we wanted to make sure you knew that you are unquestionably one of the best refs in the room."
Me: "Really? Wow. Thanks a bunch...."(blah, blah, blah rambling in shock that this guy would say something to me me like that.
RIC: "Obviously, I won't be deciding who refs next year," (as we had elected new officers the evening before) "but I think they would be making a mistake if they didn't invite you again."

The converstaion continued for a few minutes, but that was the idea. Wow. I don't think anyone can understand just how much that meant to me.

On another note, I pushed myself so much that I spent Monday and Tuesday in bed in a semi-conscious pneumonia-like state. :( I ran out of leave, so I had to come into work today, but I am getting a bit better.