Come Sail Away

Early Thursday morning Chris and I excitedly prepared for the day ahead of us. We had been invited by his father to go sailing with him in his 26' sailboat. So comfortably it fits about 4 people, anymore would just be too much. Luckily it was just us three, so it was perfect.

Before we got started we decided to grab a bite to eat. I was intimidated by the menu, as everything was greasy and pretty expensive. A Chilli cheese dog was probably the cheapest item, running at $7. My fear was that I would eat it and then get uncontrolable gas out on the boat. How embarrassing. I got past my fear though and gave into hunger, ordering myself a chilli cheese dog and some water. I am proud to say, when I was finished I was not wearing a trace of chilli on my clothes or face. There's a first time for everything.

We finished our meals and proceeded to the boat. There was a good couple of inches between the dock and the boat, with water to catch my fall if I slipped. I grabbed hold of the boat and desperately pulled myself up onto the boat.

Chris and his dad worked on getting it sailable for the day. I sat back and watched, thinking that if anything should happen to them, I'd be up a creek without a paddle.

As we pushed off, a dragonfly that had followed us to the boat kept landing and keeping me company. It had a large body and huge bug eyes. It even had a great big smile. It reminded me of a cartoon, because it seemed to have a bit of a personality as it stared at me with it's funny smile.

We putted along the still water in the columbia river, not a trace of wind for our sails. We motored up the river for quite a while before we decided to bring out the sails to try our luck at catching some wind. We slowly floated back down the way we had just come from, pulled by the current in the water alone. A hot windless day. My feet felt as if they had caught fire. I had overdressed thinking it would be cold. I was melting in front of Chris's dad, trying to remain smiling and to appear as if I didn't have a problem in the world, as I stealthily would wash away the sweat when he wasn't looking.

We finally decided to call it a day when we all started melting away in the hot sun. We put the sails away and secured the ropes and slowly motored back to the marina. A nice breeze from the movement produced by our motor cooled our hot skin. I looked over and again noticed our little dragonfly buddy.


Our little dragonfly looked as if he was were riding on a waverunner or a jet ski, wind blowing on his face. He had the biggest smile I'd seen, like he knew something I didn't. How odd that he had a smile. He was facing me as I watched him, and the strangest thing happened. His whole head cocked to one side as if he was asking me what I was looking at. My mouth dropped open and I looked up at Chris to see if he'd seen it too. He had. We both started laughing. I've never seen an insect do that before.

Just the simple human motion made me ponder things in nature. I began thinking about reincarnations, like what if it was Grandpa Dick coming by to give us one of his big smiles and let us know he was ok now.

I once saw a movie where a simple dragonfly was actually a fairy, and until the little girl admitted to the dragonfly that she knew it was really a fairy, it stayed concealed in its insect form. Once she let on that she knew what it really was a beautiful fairy emerged and revealed itself to her. Magic hidden in simple forms all around us, waiting to be revealed to those who believed.

The world is full of magic, and whether we believe or not is up to us. Nature itself is magical, but what if the unexplained and supernatural exist. How exciting to think of a hidden world within our own world disguised as a regular creature such as a dragonfly or a garden spider. What if a gracefull gazelle was really an elf in disguise. Yes, what if. Life is more fun when the question "what if" is asked. Think of all the possiblities.

Okay, so back to reality. The day was not a successful sailing trip, however it was a success in that we were able to get away from reality for a short while and ponder in each others company. It was a peaceful, even though hot, and relaxing experience.