Come Sail Away

Sarah’s parents have an eleven-meter sailboat, Deliverance. (Sarah’s dad is an obstetrician.) Sarah grew up on the water, and she absolutely loved sailing. It was central to her life. I learned to love it too, except for the fact that I always get sick. I think it’s the one thing she would have changed about me.

Sarah was stuck with me, but Nate was her second chance. Watching him discover the boat was one of her greatest joys. She was determined that he would be a water baby, just as she had been.

So when Tish and Francis invited us to go for a day sail in July, it was bittersweet. This would be my first time on board without Sarah. I knew it would be sad for me, but I also knew that Nate would love it. More, I knew that sailing and exploring the islands would be one of the best ways for him to learn who Sarah really was. So, for the record, even though I always get sick, I am determined to accept every invitation to go sailing from now on. I just hope next summer is less rainy.

We brought Jennifer’s family along. Jennifer and her parents, Beth and Paul, are very good friends of ours. Nate sleeps at their house at least once a week so I can have some down time, and I am quite unable to express how grateful I am to have them in my life.

Paul documented our lovely day sail by taking approximately two hojillion pictures. Unfortunately, a thick fog came in before we made it all the way to Cuttyhunk, so we had to turn around and head back. And Nate was too excited to nap on the boat; by the end of the day, he was completely fried. So I tied him to a chair, and we enjoyed dinner at the yacht club.

It was a good day.