Dan's Papers - August 22, 2008 - The Sheltered Islander

GO AMANDA, GO!!! Shelter Island's own sweet girl, Amanda Clark, is on the US Olympic team in China right now to compete in sailing.

Of course, all the children raised on Shelter Island are exceptional, just as the men are all devastatingly handsome and the women are brilliant. Just as behind every successful man is a steadfast woman, behind every high achieving child is a brilliant mother....

I know Amanda by way of having worked for her fantastic mom some years ago. Her Dad, Denny, is a sweet fun guy, a real Islander who knows everybody and can have lunch with princes or paupers with equal aplomb.

Amanda's Mom, Ellen, is a trim, petite, beautiful brunette who is doesn't even wear makeup, and on her worst day, looks better than me on my best day. I, who spend hours spackling, painting, detailing, can't achieve her look. Plus, she wears L.L.Bean clothes all the time and looks like the women in the catalog. I've always wanted to wear tasteful clothes like that, but sequins and sparkles seem to find me no matter what I do.

I had a lot of fun working for Ellen. I called her my LLBeanie boss. She ran a headhunter agency for high level scientists and I did the Internet research. She was wonderful to tolerate my whooping laugh whenever I came across a funny name. I kept a list of funny names. I learned that China only has 336 surnames for its huge population. The family comes first, followed by the first name and then the middle name. Pulling from such a small pool of surnames, there were some doozies like; Moon Loon, Soon, Long Pi, Hung Hung Hung, and all kinds of names whose double meaning entertain small minds with whooping laughs.

Once, when going to a conference, Ellen wore a perfectly tailored gray suit, and not usually being a jewelry wearer, she relented and purchased a one-inch high gold lighthouse pin with a diamond in the top. She put it on her lapel and asked me, "Do you think it's too much?" I was probably wearing a florid floral top with aqua pants, pink sandals, giant yellow hoop earrings and no doubt, I had some beads on. My hair color could have been anything by Crayola. It was like Shelter Island's version of Mary Tyler Moore asking Shelter Island's version of Cyndi Lauper if this tiny gold pin was over the top. I think I laughed out loud. I wear bigger jewelry on my nightgown. We both had a good laugh when she realized I was not the person to ask...

With such an honest, true, and genuinely humble Mom, I'm not surprised at all that Amanda has reached this pinnacle. I can only imagine how proud Ellen, Denny, her pretty sister Becky and her brother are. We are all proud of Amanda. And I am elated for Ellen. No Mom could be more deserving of such joy!