Salt Water Therapy
Here is the recipe for a perfect day in May. Get up early; push off urge to sleep in on
this Sunday morning; remind yourself there will be ample nap time on the stern
of the boat. Grab your giant L.L. Bean
Boat & Tote (READ embroidered in
pink, matches the handles, natch!) Try to remember where you left your favorite
swim suit…oh yeah, it’s still in the suitcase you took for the Waikiki
staycation last weekend, no time for swimming last week- it was a just in-case
packed item. Gather your sunscreen
buffet, all the SPF numbers represented; seventy for the responsible grownup,
screen in the hot pink bottle that smells like an orange push-up, sixty-four screen
in a small fancy silver and gold package with discreet font that makes me feel
fancy, baby screen for the “won’t sting your eyes” feature and don’t forget my
personal all-time favorite, Coppertone in the traditional brown bottle-for the
girl I return to when my toes hit the sand.
If there were a scratch and sniff label to the summers of my childhood
it would be the comingled delicious scent of Coppertone and sea spray.
Fill the tiny cooler cube with water bottles and ice. Food will be purchased at the wiki-wiki
(Hawaiian for quick and slang for a convenience store). To the tote add, in no particular order: boat
shoes , cotton polo, sunglasses, a visor that you should probably toss but you
love it and rationalize the hoarding of it to its new duty as Official Boat Visor,
hair clip to let you enjoy the fast ride and forget about your wind whipped
locks, current paperback but not a precious one you want to hold onto after it’s
finished, your second string reading glasses…disappointment but no real
heartbreak if they get lost or damaged, and three towels. Why three towels? Ladies like to wrap themselves in one towel
which leaves a towel each for me and Sweet Michael.
Pack the car with our tote and cooler. Sprinkle in happy
mornin’ banter…if I was the slightest bit musical I would compose a bouncy little
chantey: yay yay it’s a boat day, hurry
hurry gotta get on the bay…I’m adding learn to play the ukulele to my
bucket list right now. Is it too late to
become the female version of Jimmy Buffett??? Next stop, snacks and such from
the convenience store.
I know, I know…Linda, you love to cook why are filling up
the cooler with convenience store snack junk?
Because it’s easy and adds to the happy child feeling walking briskly
through the aisles and adding crackers and bottled sweet tea to my
handbasket. When I was a little southern
girl, the bright orange crackers with peanut butter meant you were traveling;
they signal adventure. They’re called NABS (short for Nabisco?...even though
the manufacturer can vary. I seem to remember Lance was a familiar brand name). I haven’t lived in N.C. for more than a
decade but I would imagine that there are still folks my age when invited to go
on a any kind of trip will say, “Super, let’s hit the road but Sugar, can we
stop at the stop-n-go to snatch up some Nabs and a Pepsi first?”
Here’s the salt water therapy regimen. Put boat in the water. Sweet Michael does the
engine work and I run the lines off the dock.
It takes about 15 minutes to get to the sand bar. Pull up on the mauka (mountain side) cuz the
side closest to the base has the partiers.
They pull up there boats so they’re touching. We like the quiet side,
yep we’re old cranks. I’ll write the etiquette of the sandbar in a future
post. Okay, back to the agenda: Anchor. Have breakfast (usually a Subway
flatbread sandwich: egg, pepperjack cheese, bacon, spinach, tomato and spicy
mustard). Gather and slather sunscreen. Quick
swim. Get in floaty chairs and wait for the tourists to disembark from their
various pontoon boats. (that’s another
post too!) Back on boat. Sweet Michael goes down into the cabin. If it’s Sunday, he calls his parents. And he
naps and I pull out my book, read for an
hour. Then I nap. As it gets close to four in the afternoon, the
negotiation starts. Me, “Let’s stay ‘til 4:30” Him, “Babe, we need to get it
in, hose it off, trailer it back up…” of
course we stay until 4:30. It is the happiest
seven hours of my week. It rejuvenates
and replenishes my soul. Find your happy place and don’t forget your sunscreen.
