This is a picture I took from the deck of one of the two sailboats I have owned.
This spring has been odd for me for many reasons, but for the longest time I have felt something was awry, a barely perceptible itch I didn’t really realize I had to scratch until I actually put my finger on it.
This is the first spring in many years I have not had a sailboat. The first spring in years I have not spent getting a boat ready to launch. I didn’t realize how much I would miss the manual labour involved in preparing a boat to be put back in the water after a long winter.
There is something very cathartic about the process. It’s like washing away winter and ushering in the spring. Not having that experience this year has been eye-opening.
Thankfully I have found other ways to wash the winter away. Getting out on my bicycle was helpful, as was repairing the brakes on my ancient Golf, which spent a large part of the winter sitting behind the house buried in snow. Even the simple act of putting away the winter coat helped. The amazing weather lately certainly hasn’t hurt the cause.
I still miss the boat, but I know there’s another in my future.
Another in the not too distant future hopefully :)