At this late point in life, I still have a lot to learn. Fortunately, I have wandered into a realm where many lessons are offered. In November, I was asked if I wanted to be commodore of our little boat club, the Red Dragon Canoe Club. Since the alternative was to keep being the club's secretary, which demanded that I keep notes of the organization's meetings and make them available to the members, and since I really didn't want to continue my three-year occupation of that post, I accepted the offer. The club is in the midst of attempting to find its way forward, a task that involves a choice of keeping and restoring our historic clubhouse -- a post-Civil-War mansion that is in disrepair -- or abandoning it one way or another. There are 90 memberships in the club. A membership can be held by an individual or a family. There are probably more than 90 opinions as to the path we should take. I had heard of "cat herding" before I took office in January. Now I truly know what that means. Since there is no right or wrong answer to the problem -- only strongly-held views -- it is more than difficult to do a fair job of leading the club members. Added to this overriding concern, the harsh winter has brought its own problems: A downed power line that hasn't been fully repaired, leaking toilets that have tripled our water bill and the desires of separate members to do this or that with the club property. I'm not certain that I am, at this point, learning. Tomorrow night we have a monthly meeting of the members, and that will amount to the first true exam. I'm spending today cramming for it.