Thankful Every Day

11/26/2011

Current Location: 18.19.576 North and 64.57.175 West. That’s Elephant Bay in St. Thomas, USVI

When are you thankful? How does it feel?

On Thanksgiving morning, I made a pecan pie, curried pecans, coconut chips and bagna cuda for raw vegetables. (The coconut chips are at left.) The galley was a mess, but I was happy. I found myself grinning at nothing, humming out of tune, and pausing to kiss EW at every turn. At one point it occurred to me, this is what it feels like to be truly thankful for your blessings: pure joy.

It also occurred to me that I feel that way very often. We’ll be in the cockpit sailing, or on the anchor enjoying sundowners, and I’ll look across to EW and say, “This doesn’t suck.” He’ll laugh and agree. We’ll take a second or two to appreciate how fortunate we are to share a dream and to have followed it. That’s being thankful for our blessings. It even happens when I’m working on a boat project—particularly one that is going well—and I’ll pause with brush in hand or at the sewing machine and think, “This is right where I want to be.” That’s being thankful.

(At left, a view from our recent sail to St. Thomas.)

I’m thankful for EW, for Favorite and for the many other loved ones who are back in the states, and for the wonderful friends we’ve made in the Caribbean sailing community. I’m thankful EW found this boat, and that he has the skills to keep her looking good and working fine. I’m thankful that he has an excellent sense of humor and allows me to use him as The Topic in this blog.

Certainly Thanksgiving reminds us to pause and be thankful, but this year it reminded me that EW and I have reason to be thankful every day, and we work to recognize that—and to express our gratitude, and our joy.

I’m also thankful for all who read this blog and I have a wish for you and all of our friends and family:

May you find the joy in your life every day, and may you follow your bliss. I wish you excellent adventures, and dreams you can achieve. When you’re thankful, smile and kiss your honey. That’s a good thing.

Coconut chips.

Here’s the messy galley. It wasn’t as bad as it looked.

I’m thankful the Texas Bourbon Pecan Pie made it to shore in one piece and without a salt bath. It’s in a basket that Lynnelle gave me, surrounded by a clean sheet. I told EW to take the waves slooowly. “No spray on the pie, please.”

EW was just thankful I made his favorite pie.

At our cousin’s home, we had three options for dining. One was on the deck.

This is an appropriate post-Thanksgiving pose, but I took this while we sailed to St. Thomas. Our off watches weren’t too tough. I’m thankful for that.

Finally, Check out the November/December edition of Latitudes and Attitudes. I have an article on page 47, their humor section. Our friend, Carl Butler has an article on page 164, their sailing pets column. We are both thankful for that.

Posted at 01:50 PM in Cruising, It's the Places We Go | Permalink | Comments (2)