A month ago we were heading out of Maine
and looking forward to greeting our new grand daughter in Rhode Island. But, sometimes life takes
unexpected turns. In July Burt’s Mom,
Lee, fell and broke her hip, one of those accidents you always dread to see in
an elderly person. After an evaluation
of her general health, they decided to do a partial hip replacement. No one was sure she would survive the surgery
at age 91 with a failing heart. But, all went well, and she was moved into a
rehab center to regain her mobility.
Initially her prospects looked good, but as we were preparing to leave
Maine, we got the impression that she was tiring of the hard work that rehab
requires and was beginning to think she wouldn’t be able to move back into her
home. One overnight passage and a brief
stop in Provincetown later, we felt a rush to
get to Newport
and send Burt off on a plane to see his mother.
Our plans to visit with the new family were modified; Burt left me in
charge of the boat which was anchored in Newport
harbor, and he flew home for what we were beginning to realize was a last visit
with his mother. During that week we had
a rental car; Burt made it twice to see the new granddaughter while I was able to
visit more frequently. Upon his return
we saw a weather window to make a dash to the Chesapeake where it is a more reasonable
option to leave a boat during hurricane season.
After a quick hop to Block Island, we made a 340 mile, 60 hour passage
directly to Annapolis.
Initially, cell phone and email kept us in touch with the situation in Ohio, but when we were fifteen miles off shore of Long Island and out of cell range, we
received a text message that Lee had passed. Frantic phone calls were made
underway whenever we had cell reception – there were people to contact and
funeral arrangements to make. Once we
reached Maryland, we were able to secure a
protected dock in Galesville, just south of Annapolis, and another rental car. Off we
drove to Ohio.
How cruisers dealt with family emergencies prior to the cell phone era is
unimaginable to us. Besides the ability to communicate, we benefited greatly
from the support and assistance we received from our cruising friends.
Mid- September was spent with family and friends in Ohio dealing with our
loss while also making a valiant attempt to clean out a lifetime of acquisitions
from Lee’s house. It was exhausting,
both emotionally and physically. We returned to Galesville wanting to take
advantage of our dock with unlimited water and electricity, so what ever energy
was left was devoted to a thorough cleaning and some serious maintenance.
Finally, an SSCA Gam was scheduled for the last weekend in September not far
from our dock. We managed to throw off
the docklines just in time, and joined our community of cruisers for two days
of seminars and social events. We’ve
covered a lot of territory in a month but now feel recharged and ready to begin
the trek south. It is unseasonably cool
here, so we will skip the Annapolis Boat Show scheduled in two weeks, and make
our way to warmer climes. This posting will serve as an update on our
activities although there are no accompanying pictures – it just wasn’t that
kind of month.
