Feel Good Friday

It's Friday, I have all my final exams made out, and there's a party tonight. All-in-all, it's shaping up to be a pretty good day. Hence, I figured I'd share a "feel good" story from today's Huntsville Times:

Press your palms hard against your ears and close your eyes. That's the way activist-athlete Mimi Hughes, 49, will be experiencing Europe this summer, when she wears ear plugs and eye goggles to protect her against pollutants in the Danube River.

She starts the 1,771-mile swim Sunday, expecting to spend the next 89 days swimming eight to 10 hours a day.

Ms. Hughes is swimming the Danube to raise awareness of environmental issues, especially as they relate to the world's rivers. I'm always in awe of folks who are willing to go to such lengths for a cause -- especially one I support. Seriously, though, this is a 1771 mile swim she's attempting! Only one other person (a Slovenian man) has done it before. Wow!

Will she make it? I don't know, but I wouldn't be against her. Evidently Hughes did the same thing a couple of years ago with the TN River ("only" 652 miles) and she once swam the Bering Strait (the whole thing?) to encourage U.S.-Russian friendship. Her story makes me feel kind of puny and worthless, but I'm also inspired that someone cares that much.

Actually this story is another reminder to me of just how unique the Huntsville area is. Though located deep in the heart of North Alabama, Huntsville is not your typical Alabama city. At least once a month I see a story about a local citizen that makes me ask, "How did that person end up in Huntsville?" Sure the rocket scientists are old hat, but I recently read a story about a Huntsville family that served as a host family for a girl from Hiroshima in the 1950s (some kind of reconstructive surgery program). Then there was a story about a local doctor who was one of the physicians in charge of treating the "bubble boy" (sorry, I don't remember the kid's name, but it was the one they made the movie about) years ago. It just doesn't seem that there should be this many legitimately interesting folks in a city the size of Huntsville. At least that's my take.