Sunday, September 18, 2011

Obrigado, gracias, grazie, efharisto, merci

The day after the 2008-09 school year ended, the crew of Juno set off for Bermuda and beyond. Twenty-six months, two continents and 15,000 nautical miles later, the other bookend slipped into place, as the boys began the 2011-12 school year in Virginia. The adventure, at least THAT adventure, had come to an end.

I have stayed out of the boys' blog as much as possible, but wanted to step in here to thank all those who helped make Juno's Journey a success.

To Peter and Denis and Ben and Carolyn and Matthew and Scott for getting us across the Atlantic. To Ann for seeing us to the Spanish Balearics, and to Peter (again) for coming to the rescue and lending us a hand to Italia as autumn's gales closed in. To Mark for donating many hours of sleep on the long Atlantic passage to the Caribbean.

To Tod and Matthew (different Matthew) for their stamina through the shorthanded and sadly fishless passages from Puerto Rico to the Bahamas and from the Bahamas up to the Chesapeake.

A special thanks to Edee, who not only helped get us around and through the Med and across to Bequia, but bore with our quirks and unusual requests (no heels on deck!) with admirable equanimity.

Finally, our biggest and warmest thank you to Mary Beth, aka . . . Mommy, who stayed behind to keep a paycheck coming and (perhaps even more important) get up at 0500 to gather, analyze and then break down the oceanic weather forecasts into 160 character txt msgs to fire off to the sat phone. I cannot imagine having to worry about my spouse and my sons off on a small boat in a big ocean, but that is what she did, with unending courage and grace. Those days we all shared on her visits to Bermuda, Horta, Italy, Greece, Gibraltar, Union Island and Antigua -- those will remain the highlights of the trip, and our warmest memories. Thank you, my love, for letting my dream come true.

The first cold front of the fall passed through the other morning. Orion and I walked to the bus stop, and the brisk air reminded us of two autumns earlier, as the first front passed across Sibari. The mountains that were vague, hazy shapes for our first weeks suddenly came sharp and clear and so close it seemed like we could reach out and touch the snow that covered their peaks.

I imagine there will be many such moments. I hope there will be. My sons have been to more places, seen more of this planet, than most people will in a lifetime. More than anything, I wanted them to understand all that is possible in this life, limited only by our imaginations.

I had that thought this trip would be my great gift to them, something they could treasure forever, a touchstone as they grow and move off into their own lives. I did not foresee how, instead and already, it has been their remarkable gift to me. They were my little boys when we left home. Before my eyes, they have grown up, and have come back thoughtful and capable young men. I don't know that a luckier father has ever lived.
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7 comments:

  1. Shirish, Orion and Rigel, what a lovely ending report you have written. It is wonderful that you can express such sentiments and for the trip to have turned out so well. For myself, my computer wallpaper is a shot I took on Juno early in the morning with pre-dawn red glow on a calm sea somewhere between Sardinia and Sicily. I am pleased to remind myself of the wonderful time I had with you all. Good luck to you all, and I look forward to when your narrative of the trip appears in book form. Its going to be a thick book.

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  2. Lovely post, Shirish. We certainly enjoyed meeting you and the boys in Gibraltar and were disappointed not to catch up with you again after Morocco. Best wishes to you all.
    -Shirlee and John of Solstice, now ashore in San Francisco

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  3. Boy, Shirish, you should go into writing! :-) I don't know if Will "got it", but the last couple of paragraphs (and the one about Mary Beth) echo my sentiments exactly!

    Thanks for all the great memories Will, Ruth and I carry. We think of you often. Hopefully we will get a chance to hook up again here someday soon. All the best.

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  4. Hey you'all,
    I'm happy you could realise your dream, and it was a honour to help. :)
    With the experiance you gave me I did some more loveley trips afterwards: 5 months western Austaliä and this march a 1 month trip from Grenada to Martinique.
    Take care

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  5. Hope someone takes a mace to your face asshole. #Trump2020NowMoreThanEver

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  6. Hi Shirish, its great to see you doing a great job at the White house press briefing yesterday. Your straight shot at POTUS of his 20000 plus lying and after listening to question second time and then his face and looks have gone viral in social media. Kudos to your question and I wished the next journalist should have followed up on your question. Keep up the great work Sirish!!

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  7. I hope your boat sinks and your kids get eaten by sharks.

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