Somehow it didn’t feel real till the goodbyes started.
6 years ago Alex and I sat on a beach in Croatia watching cruising boats go wherever they pleased. 3 years ago I left for Korea with the intention of saving up as much money as possible. Last summer we started looking at boats, and this January Saltbreaker was purchased. The past few months have been nothing but work, boat work, food, and sleep. There really hasn’t been a whole lot of time for introspection.
Suddenly there were people. People who wanted to see us and to see us off. People who we love and love to spend time with. For a solid 24 hours, we were surrounded by these awesome people. Saying goodbye to one good friend is hard enough, but saying goodbye to your entire family, most of your extended family, and a large portion of your best friends within about 5 minutes was… well… something I’ve never experienced before.
Instead of feeling my own emotions, I started absorbing the emotions of others. Excitement, sadness, fright, amazement and love are just a few. These emotions combined to form a new feeling. One which can’t be expressed in standard English. If you’d like to feel this feeling yourself, imagine the following:
1. Your dog just died.
2. You’ve suddenly been trapped in an elevator with 2 of your best friends.
3. You’re launching off in a space shuttle.
4. Your dog’s not really dead.
Our dad smashes a bottle of champagne over the bow of the boat. Our Mom, Dad, SteveO, and communal best friend Dosh chop through our docklines with a cleaver. Saltbreaker is pushed out of the slip, the jib is raised, and we glide past the dock full of boats at walking pace. Dralle keeps up with of for a bit. Our cousin Pat is at the end of the pier getting barked at by sea lions. Then we’re gone.
Or are we? One final tack back to the end of the pier, a couple of bursts on the airhorn and we’re really gone. For real. We’re gone.