Category: Parenting
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Pure Spirit
Written by
on
I fell in love with Betsy in Jacksonville, Florida, while she was out cold. I never saw anything so beautiful as that brave girl’s face. It was not the usual…
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Slow Leak
Written by
on
Having a baby is very like offshore sailing: ahead of the birth, before setting sail, you think you have a plan, all laid out as a series of lines drawn…
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Authority
Written by
on
The first rule at sea is don’t fall off; you never let go unless the vessel sinks out from under you. Most sailboats, like most marriages, can withstand more stress…
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A Man’s Place
Written by
on
For several days, I debated whether to swallow my pride and motor back to Clear Lake. I could tell the broker I’d bought her from to sell her, send me…
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Superstitious
Written by
on
No amount of precaution and planning would keep Betsy comfortable for long in open water. She had no experience of time in a seaway All she had seen in the…
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Synchronized
Written by
on
In North Carolina, we looked for a house up and down the Outer Banks, and all along the western shore of Pamlico Sound, no luck. But a boat like the one…
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Beyond Romance
Written by
on
I called Betsy from a phone booth in Edenton, North Carolina, on the Albemarle Sound, where descendants of Blackbeard the Pirate were members of the Chamber of Commerce. I was…
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Hurrying to Elsewhere
Written by
on
Leaving church, I drove out to the Oconaluftee River, found a rock to sit on, and stared at the moving water. I prayed and waited for some echo, some after-shock…
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Empty As A Pillowcase
Written by
on
I had known women who wanted children, who had spooked me. One in particular was a candidate for marriage and motherhood not far behind me: Betsy had moved in, and…