Our “Summer of Rest” is almost over. Two more long weekends and it will be time to conquer what I like to call “The Final Frontier”. We will be focusing on cleaning out and hopefully selling my family home. A giant estate sale is in the works. We plan to sell or donate almost everything we own, along with everything that my parents have left behind in the house. A pretty daunting task, which is why we needed the “Summer of Rest” to prepare for it.

In honor of our “Summer of Rest”, I would like to thank my husband, and personal boat captain, Allan Keddy, for being instrumental in providing me with the gift of THE BEST SUMMER I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE……

Thank you, Captain Al, for providing our family with a boat, and for possessing the skill and ability to sail said boat. If it were not for you, the only boat I would ever have been on would be the boat in my own imagination. I would have been stuck looking at all of those beautiful travel articles in magazines thinking “I wish that could be me.” Because of you, I have experienced adventures that many people only dream about.

Thank you, Captain Al, for maintaining our boat. For fixing what breaks and keeping it painted, scrubbing the barnacles off the bottom, keeping the leaks patched, the bilge pump working, the sails rigged, the potty emptied (SO gross!!) and the cooler iced and always filled with my favorite, refreshing, non-alcoholic beverages.

Thank you, Captain Al, for working with the marina people and hauling the boat out in the winter, for all of the research that went into finding a decent marina, and for knowing what needs to be done to protect our boat from the harsh New England winters that could ruin her.

Thank you, Captain Al, for still believing that some day, some way, I might still become a sailor. Thank you for trying to explain wind direction, and wind shifts, and dew points and weather radar, and knot tying, and for finally stopping that ridiculous boat language and calling out “right” and “left” for me instead of “port” and “starboard”.

Thank you, Captain Al, for the most breathtaking sunsets, naps listening to crashing waves, morning coffee in bed, fresh lobster and swordfish on the deck, for the blackest and stillest nights with a million stars, for Cuttyhunk Church……and for walking up to the top of Tower Hill a million times with me, because I never get sick of the view.

Thank you, Captain Al, for bringing me to Cuttyhunk, every time. Because something magical, and spiritual, and amazing happens to me every time I go there. I know that you would really like to try to sail to some new places, and that you keep bringing me to Cuttyhunk because you love me. I love that you love me that much and I promise that next summer, we can try someplace new.

Finally, Thank you, Captain Al, for the summer of my life that changed EVERYTHING. I am a new person because of this summer. I have found the things I have been chasing and searching for all of my life. Balance. Peace. Perspective and Ceaseless Joy. I never would have found these things- in this way, if it were not for your influence…..

I love you…..Oh Captain, My Captain…I would follow you anywhere.
Forever and For Always