It is Getting Real

This is getting real. Eeek!  We left Peekskill, New York for good this morning and every single thing that we passed on our sail down the Hudson River, including our hometown for twenty years, we will not see again by water for a loooong time, if ever. 

Over the last three years since we bought Gerty, we have made this sail, from Peekskill around the tip of Manhattan to our seasonal harbor in Mamaroneck or back, six times.  But this time, around June first, we will head north for the summer and then way south and beyond.  

We know we’re gonna need to be flexible as the last two months have taught us all how plans can be nothing more than a crapshoot, but this concept is not new to us, so we’re OK with that.  Plans can be fun and exciting!  Plans get your heart pumping and your stomach fluttering.  Plans make you think.  Plans that are adaptable do not fail, so we should be good.  We are a bit gitty.

The sail itself was stellar.  The wind averaged about twenty knots, hitting us at a broad reach most of the way.  Gerty’s hull is so clean that, with the current, our speed over ground was over ten knots consistently.  We were flying!  I am well aware, that if we travel the world over, our current anchorage, behind the Statue of Liberty will likely never be equaled as far as meaningful destinations to me.  Even though neither one of us grew up in Manhattan, we both consider New York our home and Lady Liberty our beacon.  Her beauty and what she stands for chokes me up every time.

What will tomorrow bring?  Too many good things to count, but I will start with Zachary’s graduation celebration this weekend.  Yup, it got canceled, but something tells me we’re gonna see him smile on Saturday at 5 pm in spite of everything.  We’re doing a family zoom and I have sent out an invite asking all the relatives to get creative.  Michael and I will kick it off with bad dancing and worse singing to the tune of “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang.  I changed all the words so that “celebration” is “graduation.”  If it’s half as hilarious as it feels when we practice, it should be pretty funny.  I borrowed a cap and gown from my friend’s son who graduated from Georgetown two years ago, so we’re all set.

It’s later in the evening now and I’m feeling somber as I watch the Empire State building beat red out Gerty’s salon window. It did not go unnoticed by us how eerily quiet the city felt today as we sailed by.  I desperately hoped that someone would see our spray painted signs clipped to the life lines and know that we were rooting for them.  I don’t want them to think they are alone. 

Sadly, the whole shoreline was desolate from Washington Heights to the Battery.  The boat traffic is nill, with no people to ferry across the harbor.  Air traffic too is void of helicopters whisking off executives and socialites to exotic places.  I easily reach back in my memory to a sail we made to this same spot on July 3rd, 2016 in our twenty-two foot Catalina, Soggy Dollar. 

The Harbor was absolute mahem!  The chaos was invigorating, terrifying and wonderful!  It was nothing like this COVID existence that we are all forced to endure.  A prayer for this glorious city and it’s people from me tonight.