Tag: Relationships

  • Overboard

    The third day. Dead tired, no sleep, dehydrated, seasick, feeling sorry for myself, hating the boat, fearing the mindless ocean. One wrong move, and I could wind up overboard. The […]

  • Slow Leak

    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 […]

  • Authority

    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 […]

  • Armed

    Coming into Mobile Bay, tying up at Dog River Marina, I had a decision to make: whether to sail for Key West, across the Gulf of Mexico, or take the […]

  • Virtue of the Easy Way

    We had been on the move for a month. Starting out, I had tried to teach Betsy how to manage the boat, taking any opportunity to teach and keep her […]

  • Belly Up

    Betsy was all for heading to the Caribbean or Central America, to the Rio Dolce, the “sweet river”, in Guatemala.   That was where I imagined delivering the baby, anchored […]

  • Tuning the Rig

    We had not had sex since living together in the mountains.  Back then, we had had a lot of it for fun, not trying to get pregnant.  The fun had […]

  • Name Change

    We were hungover leaving the yacht broker’s house.  I asked Betsy to drive and opened the car door, letting her in.  Closing the door, I walked around to the passenger […]

  • Expiration Date

    At a dinner party with the yacht broker who had sold me the boat, Betsy and I sat across the table from Mark, a good looking younger man, one of […]