I’ve
been sailing a boat for over 30 years. Always had one to putter
around on I’ve spent many a day tearing something up so that
I’ve have something to fix the next time I could find the time
to get back. There is always something to fix on a sailboat.
It’s a therapy I’d recommend for anyone who needs a hobby or
something to do to occupy their time. It’s very difficult to
think about your job, taxes or anything else when you’re down in
the bottom of the boat draining out the bilge. There’s something
about cleaning the bilge that just puts things into perspective.
Not something you want to do, but something that has to be done.
It’s also something that makes you feel a real sense of
accomplishment once it’s over.
Like cleaning out
horse stalls, if you’ve ever done that. I’ve cleaned those as
well, but boats, unlike horses, don’t eat at night and the bilge
doesn’t get as nasty as the stalls. Horse people will probably
take issue with this, but I don’t care. Anyway, we sold our last
boat a couple of years ago when we moved to the hill country.
I’ve missed having one ever since. 14 months ago, I’m driving
along and see this neat sailboat with a little for sale sign
parked up in the driveway of some interior design company. I go in
and find out that they had some customer that ordered a bunch of
stuff done and then couldn’t pay so they took the boat as
payment. I bought it right there on the spot. Towed it up to the
closest lake by our house and there she has sat for all this time.
I can’t explain why I never started sailing again. For some
reason I had this fear that I might not be able to do it again. Is
this what happens as we grow older?
Do we think we
can’t do something that we’ve always done before and as a
result we stop doing the thing that we thought we might not be
able to do? Does this make any sense? For some dumb reason I had
this notion in my head that I was getting too old or something to
go back out. I know that’s stupid, but that’s how I felt. I
kept putting it off and putting it off, always finding some reason
or another to not actually try again. Last week, my youngest son
suggested we go and finally get it out on the lake. I told him,
fine, let’s try for 2 pm. Then
I called back and said 3 pm. . Then I called back and said it
looked like rain and maybe we shouldn’t go, but he insisted. The
motor had not been started since we bought it and I just knew in
my heart that this would be our first problem. I could envision
dozens of things that could go wrong. We ended up getting on board
about 4 pm and the motor started with the first crank. So far so
good…….after we ended up getting out from the dock, the sails
went up like they should and within 15 minutes we were
back…sailing. It was a wonderful afternoon. I am now engrossed
in marine supply catalogs trying to buy stuff that we need to
bring her up to speed. In retrospect, I can’t figure out why I
was reluctant to get started again, but I was. Thanks to my son, I
managed to survive and shrug off a potential aging situation that
I didn’t need.
I’ll always
remember an incident that happened many years ago when we were
looking for another boat to buy. We saw this for sale sign and
stopped to ask the man sitting on the back of the boat why he was
selling it. He looked at us with the saddest eyes you can imagine
and said….”My wife and my doctor say I have to sell it.” I
don’ know what happened to him but I’ve always thought he
would have probably lived longer if he still sailed…..I hope it
works for me as well. I’m glad I didn’t give into my fear and
stop doing something I love. Think about it. It works for you as
well. Comments go to www.pearyperry.com
