Monday, December 20, 2010

How Many Days Till She Runs Off the Boat, Screaming?

If you're wondering why the blog has been quiet the past few days, we've been holed up in Apalachicola monitoring events at home, where two of our nearest and dearest have had some health challenges.  It's hard to write hearty travelogues when you're worried sick. 

(If you'd like to see some photos from the past few days, check the latest Facebook album.)
Our pretty docksite in Apalachicola

Dear friends have cared lovingly for our son, and Dad is surrounded by family and doing better.  In the middle of all the worrying we nearly forgot that we were celebrating an anniversary: 27 years of wedded bliss. 

Twenty-seven years.  Plenty of psychologists have interviewed passels of old married fuddy-duddies, trying to worm out the secret answer to the question, "How do people manage to stay married?" 

Indeed, when we told folks we were planning this trip, it was remarkable how many woman (how VERY many women) said to me, "I could NEVER be on a boat with just my husband for that long."  At the beginning of our trip, a friend was taking bets:  "How many days on the boat till Cynthia runs ashore, screaming?"  Amazingly, no one has collected yet. 

We have almost NO pictures of the two of us together.
This one is from Peterboro, Ontario
I would venture to say, what makes people stay happily married turns out to be terribly prosaic.  "Don't sweat the small stuff." "Never go to bed mad."  And, "Speak to each other respectfully, the way you'd talk to an honored guest."

It's not that there haven't been moments. Docking the boat is particularly stressful. One person (usually, the guy) is steering. The other person (usually the woman) is "bow bunny," standing in the bow with mooring line in hand.  

Meanwhile, there may be wind blowing the boat INTO the dock.  Or wind blowing the boat OFF the dock. Currents.  Shallow water.  Gongoozlers distracting you with aimless questions ("Did you know your boat looks just like the boats on the canals in Europe?") 

Meanwhile the bunny is spozed be turning periodically to holler directions to the Cap'n, who can't see the spot he is aiming at, and can't hear her if she is facing forward, watching where she is going.  

"You're 15 feet from the dock . . .  10 feet . .  6 feet  . . . 4 feet . . ."  And then (in theory) the bunny hops gracefully across the gap (and sometimes up or down a couple feet) onto a splinter-filled, narrow dock and swiftly snubs the line around a cleat, or a pier, or SOMETHING, so that 12 tons of steel does not smash into the super yacht tied a few feet farther along.  

In a situation like this, "respectful voices" and "not getting mad" certainly help.  They've worked for us (mostly).  I haven't run screaming off the boat yet.  And (high five) we didn't sink the boat today.


  1. "Bow Bunny" I love it!

    Happy Anniversary Cynthia and Bill!

    We celebrate our 18th this Thursday.


  2. Congrats, Beth! A chance to give that special dress a whirl!