How has it been more than two years since I’ve written something in here? This year marks year 17 (!!) of ol’ fivenineteen. Mind blowing. And if anyone out there is still reading any of these posts, well, my hat is off. For real.

I continue to have bursts of inspiration over these years and think “oh crap, I should write something about that.” But then, life happens. Good life happens. Life has changed profoundly in seventeen years.

So, here I go back out into the blogosphere again. E and I now have my parents’ boat. A short sentence with so much behind it. It’s a 14′ open boat (Lund) with so many memories packed into it. My dad loves being out on the water (my Mom, notsomuch). E loves boats and fishing too. Dad took him out one day fishing in that boat in one of his favorite spots, and it made my heart so happy to see those two sharing a day like that together. A sacred ritual, really.

Over the years dad has always promised E that boat would be his someday, well before our big move to Arizona a few years ago. This must have slipped his mind because one of my brothers was chatting with our dad recently, and dad mentioned to him he was going to GIVE the boat away to someone (I don’t recall to whom).

Cue the screechy record sound! Thankfully my brother knew the promise dad had already made many times to E, and intervened…and long story not so long got the boat transferred to his house a few hours away. Now we just had to agree on a price. And we did.

But then we had one more hurdle to clear – how do we get the boat transported from my brother’s house to Arizona, nearly 1300 miles away? I think my brother should have been a long haul trucker (instead he is a software sales manager). Love the alter ego! He offered to tow the boat, trailer and all of course, and meet up with E for a handoff in the remote town of Lebec, CA. Go look that one up. I think my brother and nephew were going hunting out around there.

E, meanwhile, in all his creative genius, was trying to sell a Kohler farmhouse sink we had here at the house – a replacement he got under warranty but opted never to switch out in our kitchen. So it sat on its pallet in our garage, untouched. Amazingly, the person who ended up buying it was in California (thank you, Facebook marketplace), and got a white glove delivery by E. The buyer was in a town not too far from the upcoming boat handoff location. Seriously, you can’t make this up! What are the chances of that happening? So he had a heroic couple of nights on the road -first driving to deliver the sink, then later to collect the boat from my brother, hitch up the trailer and drive all night back home. I get tired just writing this!

Something hit me like a thunderbolt when I saw dad’s boat now safely in our garage. The memories came flooding back hard in my heart. Now the boat is ours. And yet I feel my dad’s presence in it so strongly. He adored that boat and the freedom and adventure it provided. Now it’s entering a new era…in Arizona! In FRESH water, of course!

And who knew there were unexpected stowaways on that long haul from Washington state to California to Arizona. Hundreds of LADYBUGS were hiding under the tarp covers. What a surprise! What goes through their minds as hundreds of them suddenly emerge in bright light after hiding away for how long under a tarp? Are they in shock?

I wonder these things as E and I now explore more of our beautiful new home state. The lakes around here are reservoirs of course, and the boat and its trailer are slowly getting washed away of their salt water immersions. I smile as I sit in the bow of the boat, wind and sun in my face and look back and see E grinning ear to ear as he zooms us around on new adventures. On water.

Thanks, dad.