Parenting Without the Responsibility

The crew we picked up at Watch Hill dinghy dock: Aunt Liz (back pack filled with kids stuff), Uncle Todd (bigger back pack filled with more of kids stuff), Talia (blue eyes, gold skin, turquoise converse sneakers), Kayla (blue eyes, gold skin, two purses- one iridescent, the other purple gingham with purple flowers) and Emer (blue eyes, gold skin, gold hair!).

They brought the weather with them- a perfect 82 degrees, sunny, wind 10 knots on the beam for sail to Fisher’s Island West Harbor. Immediately our nieces and nephews staked out their positions on Gerty. Talia at the starboard helm, Emer at the port helm, Kayla at the anchor, in the galley, at the ropes- basically wherever the action is, Kayla is there.

The day flew buy with catching up, eating, swimming, jumping off the boat, paddling, and of course dinghying all over the place.

Back in the harbor my nieces emerged for dinner looking remarkably glamorous- a feat I still can’t figure out how they pulled off being that I have yet to have a good hair day ever on Gerty. I didn’t even know that they knew how to work to shower pump! After dinner, the kids said goodnight to their parents and left them at the dock as we dinghied back to Gerty under a starlit sky. We discussed my plan to bedazzle Dirty Gerty (our dinghy) and they loved the idea. A successful illustration of the adage “know your audience.”

They were literally rocked to sleep in what seemed like an instant. Breakfast was followed by Emer taking us girls for a full throttle dinghy joy ride. Nope, not much gas left.