If you have to work on a weekend, this is definitely the job to have! Friday my colleague Bonnie and I flew out to San Diego for the last port of call on the 2008 Handshake Tour, featuring First Book as the signature charity of the United States Coast Guard. For the last eight weeks, the Coast Guard has been sailing south along the western coast, collecting handshakes along the way. For every handshake (virtual or in person), a book is being donated through the generous support of Scholastic.

I knew it was going to be a great trip when we landed in San Diego to blue skies and made our way to The Eagle (a.k.a. “America’s Tall Ship”), a majestic 1936 sailing vessel. Trust me when I tell you, she’s beautiful!

Aboard The Eagle we were joined by children from Border View YMCA for a special reading party. The children were led on a personal tour of the ship, read to by members of the Coast Guard, and were given several books to take home.

Later in the day, the ship was opened up to the public and board members from First Book-San Diego joined us in passing out First Book bookmarks to all the visitors.

One of my favorite quotes, collected with one of the 57,000 handshakes: “Just one more way the Coast Guard is serving our country proudly. Keep up the good work, proud to shake your hand!”

My sentiments exactly!