June 3rd

Happy Birthday Zachary! 

It’s day two and we are off to a slow start.  The wind is nonexistent and the drum of the motor is dull.  The water is flat, and the light is dispersed into a sundrenched fog that is causing a whiteout. I’m on watch while Michael is working down below.

I feel a very strong desire to get away, even though most of what I want to get away from are thoughts in my head.  Our send-off was wonderful and awful. Our friends in Irvington gave us everything we needed to feel good- a socially distanced party, a song to the tune of Gilligan’s Island, some incredibly thoughtful gifts that will be surprisingly useful on Gerty (a giant Yeti bag, a festive string of lights that winds up into a self-coiling solar USB charger, and a non-skid tool holder to help prevent those pesky screws from falling into the bilge during boat projects), and lots of love and well wishes.  In addition, us girls had a socially distanced coffee send-off. Since our neighborhood joint, the Black Cat Cafe, is closed, Shari coined our socially distant yard gathering the “Back Cat.” Understandably, you had to be there, but we laughed uncontrollably over this.  We also cried. 

Then we laughed again as our dear friends the Tunis’s adopted our napping couch right before our Monday morning departure.

Our family send off was not what we hoped it would be, but there are two things that are outstandingly evident. One is that love is steeped in emotion, and two is that love is unconditional.  I will leave it at that.  

The ocean swells are big and nauseating. So is the news.  How will we each find a way to change the tide?  I wish Mr. Floyd, Ms. Taylor, Mr. Arbery and so many others could have harnessed power from the sun as our solar panels do, but that’s fantastical talk and change in our country needs to be swift and real.  Thank you to my friends and family who peacefully protested this week and thank you to the people in the small seaside towns we are visiting for demonstrating that Black Lives Matter everywhere.  For now, I will continue to write.