The Anecdotal Life Part. 60

Well, "some days you're the windshield and some days you're the bug." Yesterday, I went out on the Chesapeake with a captain, my youngest son, and his partner. We all learned a lot. I learned a lot about what I didn't know, and never again to go without eating for hours a time, especially, when under scrutiny and social pressure. However, my marina mentor/brilliant and demonic friend who was watching with , unfortunately for me and unfortunately my teacher, an unerring, critical eye, let me know where I and subsequently the teacher, screwed up. Ahhh. It's so refreshing to be wrong again this week. I was feeling strange and awkward anyway after a successful session the week before. I did some things right, but at times I didn't know which gear to put before which. He told me. Nicely too, finally, when I hinted to him that " a soft answer would turneth away wrath".
It was strenuous work what with the dodging of blasted crab pots, and battling with the current and wind, though it really helped that we could spell each other. My son did well. I missed sideswiping a boat as I came away from my slip by some few yards and then barely missed creaming the boat next to me by some few inches and a good shove from my son.
However, at the end of the day, he stood musing at sight of oil running out of the engine and down over the front of his rental car. " I thought I smelled oil when we picked up this thing." The cap had never been on the whole way from the Flexcar rental office in Washington to Goose Harbor. Beyond belief it was that the engine didn't burn up. So we drove my good old Honda Element back to D.C. and I drove home feeling less inferior. Then I got the flaming critique from my mentor, fought with him for a bit and then got down to a healthy analysis of what went wrong. Good day for Monday morning quarterbacking, it being Monday.
Copyright: May 29, 2007