{"id":6581,"date":"2017-02-12T08:01:54","date_gmt":"2017-02-12T13:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=6581"},"modified":"2017-02-12T10:55:21","modified_gmt":"2017-02-12T15:55:21","slug":"a-thousand-choices-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=6581","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0A thousand choices made…"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Sunday morning early, the nearly full moon has not yet set and I am struck by how bright it is shining down on the water here in St Martin.\u00a0 We have been here for less than a week but I am getting itchy to move on to another island.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard for me to stay in one place for very long, not because I am bored by this beautiful place (did I say I love baguettes?) but because there is just so much more I want to do and our time aboard is short.<\/p>\n

This year, for a variety of reasons, Brenda can\u2019t stay aboard for all that long, only about 2 \u00bd months and then she will head home.\u00a0 We got off to a late start this year, not getting aboard until the end of January and Brenda has a weaving conference in mid-April in TN that she\u2019d like to attend.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019d prefer for her to stick around longer but can\u2019t fault her for wanting to kick her \u201cland season\u201d off with a special weaving event.<\/p>\n

Yes, I am ready to head to St Barts but we can\u2019t go quite yet as my sail, the one with the snowbound part on order, won\u2019t be ready until mid-week.\u00a0 After that, further south, weather permitting.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Saturday, was Market Day in Margiot, on the French side, and Brenda and I enjoyed browsing the stalls in the town square.\u00a0 It was a riot of color set against the backdrop of the old fort overlooking the harbor.\"\"The stalls were set up so close to each other that making your way through the market was like winding through a sort of technicolor maze with brightly colored sheets billowing in the trades.\"\"The sights and smells were intoxicating with a some vendors selling a dizzying array of Caribbean spices.\u00a0 We wanted to buy one of each and would have had we not been short of cash.\u00a0\"\"We had lunch at a lovely little bistro overlooking the park and took advantage of the WiFi to call our boys Rob and Chris. It was really nice to catch up with them.<\/p>\n

The other evening we went over to the Dutch side to have ice cream at we were told was \u201cthe place\u201d for such things.\u00a0 It was a round building with a carousel out back, overlooking the harbor. \u00a0Inside the main building was decorated with a series of large mosaic murals set in the wall.\u00a0 Each was based on an old photo celebrating ice cream.\u00a0 Celebrate away.\u00a0 I agree, Ice cream is good.<\/p>\n

As I studied each image I was struck by the level of detail that went into their design.\u00a0 These images, when viewed casually, from afar, looked so simple. \u00a0 A little girl eating an icecream cone. \u00a0\"\"A boy getting an ice cream cone from a cart. \u00a0Simple? Yes?\"\"And yet, when explored closely, there’s more than meets the eye as it’s actually made up of countless tiny pieces that contribute to the whole. \u00a0Perhaps it’s like life. \u00a0Thousands, or millions of little decisions or pieces that bring each of us to where we are today. \u00a0\"\"Many little pieces of tile.\u00a0\u00a0 Up close, hard to say what it is.\u00a0\u00a0 Stand back and it becomes clear…good or bad.<\/p>\n

I bring this up because here we are, Brenda and me, now into our fifth winter cruising together, months away from our 40th<\/sup> wedding anniversary, and a life together that has turned out in ways that I could never have dreamed of back in High School when we were first dating. \u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s been over 45 years that we\u2019ve been hanging out together and I frankly find it amazing that we have found ourselves together in this place after all these years. \u00a0 A thousand little pieces of tile…<\/p>\n

Think about what life was like when you were 16 or 17.\u00a0\u00a0 If you were like me, well it wasn\u2019t a particularly flattering picture. \u00a0One particular image that stands out to me is what I wore to our first prom.\u00a0 Me, resplendent with shoulder length straight blond hair, powder blue tux with dark blue piping and a ruffled shirt with a clip-on (of course) bow tie.<\/p>\n

Sounds hideous and it was but we chose that particular \u201coutfit\u201d and color because the color matched \u00a0Brenda’s slinky little blue dress.\u00a0 \u00a0Her dress stood the test of time. \u00a0My tux, not so much? \u00a0However, we did have to match, right?<\/p>\n

I worked for much of my career for someone who once said to me \u201cit\u2019s all about what you decide to spend your time on that matters\u201d, and as I sit here under the light of a full moon in St Martin I can\u2019t help but feel that I have been very lucky and have chosen well. \u00a0Yes, I am perhaps luckier than anyone deserves to be as I have stumbled through a life with Brenda that has turned out so well.<\/p>\n

Go ahead and call me out on such a sappy post but I do feel particularly blessed to be where I am today, both figuratively and literally.\u00a0 \u00a0If someone had said to me way back when I stood on the front porch of Brenda\u2019s parent\u2019s home in Weston CT, where Brenda\u2019s father Jack had left me after he answered the door and \u00a0closing it again with me still on the porch, as he said \u201cBrenda will be right out\u201d, this isn’t the picture I would have had in my mind. \u00a0Perhaps it was the shoulder length hair and un-tucked shirt. \u00a0But here we are, me retired early and cruising the Caribbean with Brenda.\u00a0 \u00a0I expect that I would have said something like \u201cyeah right, first I have to get through algebra\u201d. \u00a0 Yes, and Brenda saved me there too.<\/p>\n

But, against all odds, here I am in St Martin aboard Pandora with Brenda after all those years. \u00a0And, as luck would have it, we are visiting a French island and it\u2019s nearly \u00a0Valentine\u2019s Day.\u00a0 Is that perfect or what?<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, Bob, what\u2019s the plan for Valentine\u2019s day?\u201d\u00a0 Well, since you’ve asked, Brenda and I will be celebrating with our good cruising friends Bill and Maureen at a lovely little French restaurant in Grand Case.<\/p>\n

However, just to be sure that the evening isn\u2019t completely perfect, we will anchor out and scramble our way up the beach (I sure hope that there\u2019s a dock) to make our way to dinner and back to Pandora again. \u00a0I sure hope that there isn’t a north swell running. \u00a0Brenda wouldn’t like that.<\/p>\n

Seriously though, I can\u2019t believe how much has happened over the nearly half century that Brenda and I have been hanging out together.\u00a0\u00a0 And, to torture the image just a bit more, all the pieces of our picture, the tiny pieces of glass that have gone into our mosaic have made for a pretty nice picture from my viewpoint.<\/p>\n

Who would have guessed, on this day so long ago that we’d be here today. \"\"So many little decisions that we make every day, usually not even giving most of them any real thought.\u00a0\u00a0 All those tiny pieces put in place that bring us to where we are.<\/p>\n

I particularly wonder about what decisions might bring someone to own a yacht like this. \u00a0 Is he happy?\u00a0\"\"This owner must be pleased with himself to name his boat Rapture, I would think.\"\"Or what about this guy looking toward the future…\"\"I guess I\u2019ll never know how it\u2019s going to turn out but for sure, I am pretty happy at how things have gone so far.\u00a0 I sure hope my luck holds out a while longer.<\/p>\n

Had anyone told me, back in high school algebra class (she sat two rows ahead and to the left of me) and thinking about asking Brenda “out”, that I\u2019d be sitting in St Martin, with Brenda, aboard Pandora, I would have laughed.\u00a0 \u00a0Don\u2019t forget, I was the guy with that powder blue tux.<\/p>\n

I wonder what the future holds and sure hope that my luck continues to hold out. I guess it\u2019s mine to mess up.\u00a0 It is, after all, all about choices.\u00a0 Those tiny pieces \u00a0we all put in place\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cOMG Bob, stop it already! \u00a0I think I am going to puke. \u00a0You are such a sap\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

I know, I know, but that\u2019s my story and I am sticking to it. \u00a0\u00a0Fingers crossed that I don\u2019t mess up too much.\u00a0\u00a0 So far, so good.<\/p>\n

Lucky me, indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Sunday morning early, the nearly full moon has not yet set and I am struck by how bright it is shining down on the water here in St Martin.\u00a0 We have been here for less than a week but I am getting itchy to move on to another island.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard for me to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6581"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6598,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6581\/revisions\/6598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}