AstroGypsies

Writing the escapades of my childhood sailing around the world on My Love with my mother and siblings was the fun part, proofreading, well, not the most fun, not tedious, a learning experience! Grammarly has been handy, I now know I have no idea where to put commas, I’m not fond of “the” and “of” and Grammarly is not familiar with sailing terms! It also does not like “u’s” in harbour 😉 ha!

I also relive and remember tidbits and reflect on things that I still see as a bit unjust. When my mother asked me why was I turning into an unruly, miserable child around New Year’s in Papeete, Tahiti in 1974? I don’t think it was a question, but a statement on her part, she didn’t want to know why as it interfered with what she wanted to do. She had promised when we embarked on the sailing trip that we would only be sailing for a year, then we would go back to Arizona and what was important to me…my horse. Kids don’t like it when adults lie to them. Our entire existence was often upended by her relationships as the crew we were fond of came and went like the workings of a circular door at a department store. It was hard. The constant change, and the constant stream of new people who knew nothing about sailing or boat maintenance. It became our responsibility as siblings to have to train them at 10, 13, and 15 years of age. We groaned at the thought of any new crew at times! Worse, the ones that thought they knew….

Ah, life on the high seas! I just finished a book lent to me on living aboard called “All In the Same Boat” by Tom Neale, thanks, Malcolm! My mother should have read this! Ha! So well prepared this man was with his family and boat. My creation will be the manual on how “Not to do it” I was thinking, chuckling to myself. But we turned out “better than expected” a friend of my grandparents and uncle once told me…Ha!

It does put me on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster this proofreading and I do have to walk away at times, breathe, go outside, and think of something completely different.

A package arrived the other day from UPS and inside I found photos and letters, mine, my mother’s to my uncle Harry. My wonderful cousin Bronle was clearing out her dad’s files, he’s suffering from severe dementia right now and she asked while we were Rv-ing if I wanted them back, of course, I replied!

Included was a fabulous black and white photo of my father, Al, that I’d never seen. I believe my uncle must have taken it with the handwriting on the back. He had his own darkroom for a very long time I remember. He is an amazing author and photographer. It was fabulous. I saw myself in this photo of my father. The eyes, the chin, the lips, that somewhat suspicious look…it was a delight!

So, back to proofreading, it’s Fiji and onward now, me battling with my older half-brother Forrest who came down to crew and knew it all, that is when he wasn’t vomiting up magic mushrooms! Ha!…sigh…adults can be so difficult! Fightin’ around the World…I struggled with the title I named my diaries as a ten-year-old but I think, well, I should stick with it!

Saludos amigos!