Tuesday tends to be the je ne sais quoi of one's workweek--listless, vapid, dull. It is an ugly reminder that only yesterday you began this daunting crucible and despite your best Jedi mind-tricks, you are still three days away from your weekly coup de grace (pardon moi for all the francais). That is why I was startled and aroused (in the literary sense of course) by the text message I received while careening down a Jacksonville highway one Tuesday afternoon.

"Meet me at Hurricane Patty's. We're going to look at a boat."

Melanie and I had decided about two years ago to put the sailing life on hold while she was pregnant with our daughter, Maryann. The logistics of raising our first child and caring for our little 19' Starwind Annabel Lee seemed to be too much to ask of ourselves, so instead of allowing her to become another guano encrusted dock dweller, we let her go for a paltry sum and didn't look back. Soon we were up to our elbows in poopy diapers and singing the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse jingle, blissfully ignorant of the Gregorian chant growing inside each of us. Get a boat! Get a boat!

When I pulled in to HP (sorry Hewlett Packard, that's what we call it), there was a primal boost of adrenaline coursing through my veins as I scanned the docks for a woman, a baby and a 1968 Cal 36' Pilothouse Sloop with a green hull. Earlier, when I had run off the road trying to analyze an iPhone-sized rendition of the boat somewhere in the vast expanse of nothingness between Jacksonville and Saint Augustine, I remarked to myself what a perfect boat it appeared to be and for only ten thousand! This could be the boat we had dreamt of when we first scoured Indiantown for a live-aboard vessel for what now seemed like eons ago. I began to make my way down the docks with an erratic, yet optimistic gait.

To be continued...

BOAT GIRL: A Memoir of Youth, Love & Fiberglass by Melanie Neale is now available through Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com in both print and e-book for Kindle and Nook users. Not into online shopping? You can also ask for Boat Girl in person at your local bookstore.
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