« Cooper Island | Main | Dogwoods in the Cemetery »
May 05, 2007
Cooper Island to Hodges Creek Marina
I slept like an angel, first in the cockpit, then at some dark hour I made it below. I woke, remarkably refreshed, at 5am. It was still dark, and I had to turn on a light to make coffee. Shortly before 7, Chis surfaced. We had breakfast, a swim, and readied ourselves for the return.
We compared notes. Was it sadness? Longing? Yearning? We were quiet, not especially chatty. We found ourselves dropping the mooring about an hour before we planned. We decided to sail, in whatever whisper of wind was blowing. And it was a whisper. We rolled along at barely 3 knots downwind, enjoying every last peaceful second of the end of this chapter. I couldn't bare making our final jounrey under motor. It just seemed fitting to sail. And we did. And it was magical.
We tied up at the marina, cleared off the boat, and seconds later they took Santana away to get cleaned up for the next crowd.
We hopped in a taxi to Long Bay Hotel and once finally there, we were despondent. We sat through lunch, quiet. I didn't want to talk about it. We found some chairs under the shade of a big palm tree and fell asleep. Deeply asleep. We couldn't explain why we so drained. The sun? The wind? The thought of returning to the City on Crack? We walked the beach, we swam, we snoozed, we walked the beach. Like we were pacing. Anxious.
Perhaps we have grown again, gained more confidence, alerted our instincts to a calling. I don't remember a vacation that left me feeling quite like this. I wish I could explain it.
The most valuable lessons in life are the ones you don't see until much later. Then you wonder why you didn't see it at the time. Life is full of precious moments, and few embed themselves so deeply to overwhelm the senses. This was one. This was magic. This was us.
Life is beautiful.
Posted by dave at May 5, 2007 03:56 PM