Getting Past Deja Vu
What a long strange trip it’s been? We have come full circle after many physical and emotional whirlwinds. It is your friends that make your life.
It was over three years ago that we were stationed at a nice floating dock in Bimini ready for the jump to the Berry Islands Chain in the Bahamas. It was a free dock that a friend had let us use ( Thanks Fred! )and we had full access to the Resort World Complex on North Bimini Island and their wonderful infinity pool overlooking the Gulf Stream. On our last days in Bimini and the Bahamas we watched from the pool as our good boating friends Bob and Pam cruised past going north on Mint Julep headed east for Great Harbour Marina where we had a scheduled month’s stay docked with the Active Captain boating group.
Much like today we were fully loaded with dreams of skipping through the Cays of the Bahamas and loose plans of anchoring in Bombay Gin clear waters visiting deserted white sand beaches in remote Island Chains like the Eleuthera’s and the Exumas. A world away from it all meeting old and making new cruising friends.
But, no! There we were suddenly headed west across the Gulf Stream again! We had been jolted from paradise by phone calls from our business manager and the bank we’d had for 17 years ..... the business was not going to make payroll and the bank was tapped out. We later understood that we were in “workout”, a process where you are squeezed until they have all their money back and then even extract more! So we entered those dark middle ages of a near business bankruptcy.
That drama ended last year with the sale of our business to the employees, now 100 percent owned by the ESOP Trust we set up years ago with the intention of employee ownership. That culmination included untold twists and turns with the shit sandwiches that life sometimes provides, like it or not!
After two weeks in that Bimini slice of paradise, we paid our total bill at the resort which was $ 28.17 (yes, electricity for two weeks, we never even took on water!). And then we ran back to Stuart 124 miles, then another day of 90 miles to dock at River Forest near LaBelle and fly home to Michigan and deal with a growing mess. Our cruising lifestyle was grounded.
Now here we are today again cruising, getting ready to take a dock at Great Harbour Marina and clear customs. That action was delayed by some 1143 days give or take some hours. We are now loaded with fuel, food and drink ‘till the hurricanes force us home or homesickness sets in and the need for family and friends again prioritizes.
As we left Bimini in 2015, we had no home nor family living in Michigan. Our daughter Sara was in Tennessee and son Matt in Florida. The power of friendships surfaced again as we found ourselves on the vacant 29th floor condo of the Plaza Towers in downtown Grand Rapids thanks to good dirt friends Lewie and Teresa. I have often told this story of friendship, that at the depth of that desperate period we were living in a 3 bedroom luxury suite with a panoramic south view and driving an AWD Mercedes sedan in the snow! Yes, it could have been much worse.
We had spent our time working our way around south Florida and enjoyed the Keys from Marathon and on up to a favorite stop at Boca Chit Key, an old concrete basin built by Honeywell and now a National Park. We left new friends on Nazdar and Mystic Lady, two boats we had linked up with also headed to the Berry Islands for the AC rendezvous. In an odd circle of time, as we headed into the River Forest canal this year, there was Nazdar docked at their new dirt berth, fixing up an old Florida property to serve as their land base. The now have Vaughn’s old gold BMW X5 too!
Fixing up old stuff is part of our DNA. TWINS is another example, but mostly unanticipated. It’s a boat and since our run back from Bimini it’s had work done all over from stem to stern. Rebuilt windlass damaged in Marathon, rebuilt bow thruster just old, rebuilt hoist heat stressed in storage, rebuilt head from the cherry pits, new shafts due to leaking seals, new generator batteries, a new 30gpm watermaker self installed, new dingy and chocks, and even new stern thruster’s to boot. We definitely know the “B O A T” definition and the “hole in the water” adage.
Part of our therapy to deal with the near dark age was fixing up old condo’s. Although we were regularly emotionally drained dealing with the business downsizing, turnaround, employees and the refinancing process, we needed physical punishment too. We bought one of the first condo’s sold at the Towers, a unit on the 15th floor that had been owned by our friend Lewie. We commenced to a wall to wall remodel converting it from a 2br to a 1br executive. We outstayed our welcome with Lewie and Teresa on the 19th for sure!
We just completed renovation of our third condo in three years and put it up for sale. Enough is enough? We bought and renovated a second condo at the Towers, a two floor unit overlooking the river from the 17th and 18th floors. Our first condo sold quickly and we ended up living in a construction site as we demolished and renovated the place. Luckily we had done another condo reno in Ludington done the year before which gave us a place for the long weekends away from work and Grand Rapids. Yes, its near the Pitsch’s condo and close to Lewie’s family. We have also visited with both our new Ludington neighbors with while in Florida.
Life is full of perspectives. Misery can be life, suffering should be optional. Without stormy times, do you appreciate the calm waters? Yesterday started out with many hours of calm waters crossing the Great Bahama Bank. Crystal clear waters watching the bottom glide by. Sunny and calm. The storm clouds threatened from the north, the north winds changed quickly, sooner than anticipated, the waves built, but our course was set and with no turning back, we veered into beam seas that kicked our asses. Three hours to go. It is the first time we have had to lock our cabinets and hold on. As the winds clocked to the northeast, the waves lessened and the roll was diminished enough to reduce the white of the knuckles for the last hour of a 90 mile day.
We worked our way into the lee side of Rat Cay for protection from 20mph winds and snuggled in for a calm evening recounting the day and past similar experiences. We sure do know life can be placid one moment and tumultuous the next.
Make some lemonade and enjoy the sandwiches.
Grandkids ain’t so bad neither.
Knee deep in the water somewhere......
No comments:
Post a Comment