Lucy Reflects

About nine years ago, I met this guy at the bar.

He was handsome, soft spoken, and more polite than any man I’ve ever met. We went on a few dates before he told me he was learning to sail and his goal was to sail around the world. I kissed him on the cheek, told him we were taking two very different paths in life and went home, expecting to never hear from him again.

For me, sailing as a hobby had never crossed my mind. It seemed like a lot of work for not much pay off. Hobbies for me were more like relaxing on land, sipping wine, admiring boats from afar, watching TV, and taking naps. Plus, I was dealing with my son Max’s toddler issues at the time. He was like a Tasmanian devil, taking down everything in his path with the occasional curse word at the ripe age of three. I couldn’t get the kid to behave on land, let alone a small vessel.

A few days later, I received a text. “At least just give sailing a try.”

He was convinced we would love it. I apprehensively accepted a date on the 24-foot monohaul in the bay. I mentally prepared myself to be seen in a bathing suit and Max to yell “This sucks!” and unexpectedly cannon ball into the bay.

He taught Max and I basics of sailing as we unfolded the sails and prepared the boat. All seemed to be going well until we boarded and I noticed the only place to go to the bathroom was a bucket and there was no motor on the boat. We were relying completely on wind. I started to panic. How was I expected to pee in a bucket on a boat? And what’s with no motor? I mean, I didn’t need Netflix, but a motor seemed like a reasonable thing to have attached to a boat.

Surprisingly all went well when we were on the water. Max loved sailing. We learned the basics of sailing, listened to music, had lunch and sat at the front with our feet splashing in the water. Max was like a different kid on the boat, like the nice kind that I always hoped to have.

The water was calm and everyone was relaxing. And that’s about the moment things went a bit awry.

It wasn’t Max going rogue. It wasn’t me trying to straddle a five-gallon bucket. It was my date.

We had lowered the sails and anchored to eat and enjoy the scenery and at some point, we lost a fender. I’m not sure why the following happened as dramatically as it did, but before I knew it, my date was stripped down to his birthday suit and diving into the water to retrieve the fender. You would have thought he was saving a drowning puppy or Pamela Anderson. I half expected the “Baywatch” theme song to start playing as he went all David Hasslehoff, minus the red shorts … or any shorts for that matter. Max’s jaw dropped as I covered his eyes and asked him to please sit quietly and not mention a word of this to anyone. I thought to myself, “Who needs Netflix when you have a show like this?”

“What’s a fender cost, like 10 bucks?” I thought to myself. “Is the loss of the fender worth more than my son being slightly scarred by the events that just took place? Or my dates’ dignity for that matter?”

He climbed onto the boat, fender in hand with a look on his face like maybe his quick-witted decision wasn’t the best idea. Max’s face was still buried with little giggles emerging in my side.

“I didn’t bring a change of clothes,” my date told me as he tried to catch his breath. “I didn’t want to drive home in wet clothes.”

And that was the start of the beautiful relationship between my husband Phil and I.

To date, we’ve had many adventures sailing as a family, some of them ending with us being dragged in by tow boats, motors not working, no wind, or trying to rock the boat off a sandbar. A couple of years later, Phil and I had our daughter, Beatrix, and got married on a sailing expedition in the British Virgin Islands, with Max serving as best man and Beatrix as the flower girl. We both made compromises and sacrifices. I promised to seek out new adventures with him. And Phil, well, he promised not to do the naked rescue thing again.

We’d like to hear from you, what were some fun or interesting adventures with your partner?