Adoption Complete

Sailing Thistle toward an open horizon with the

wind and sun over our shoulders.  Heaven.

 

We’ve been without internet for a few days due to weather damage to part of the equipment bringing service to our house. Once the technician arrived, he had us back up and running in short order.

A couple from DeRidder, LA, and ourselves have been negotiating over Thistle for the last week. They arrived Monday for a thorough inspection of Thistle and all her gear, and liked what they saw. They agreed to give Thistle a new home and family, and this morning we stood in the yard and watched Thistle roll out of the yard for the last time.

Between living in Western Oklahoma and my age, that marked the end of sailing for the rest of my life, and to the greatest possible extent, the loss of my identity. No matter what else I did to pay the bills, I was a sailor first---a sailor that just happened to be doing something else to prostitute myself to utility, gas and oil, insurance companies and others.  My conscience would nag at me constantly about her sitting in the side yard, so she will have someone else to look after her now.

There were two nice surprises in the transaction. The new owners seem really dedicated to sailing and to putting Thistle to serious use. The second surprise was that they spoke sailing. We sat up into the evening last night and swapped sailing stories. It was wonderful for both of us to share our common language with another couple after a long, long social dry spell.