Someday's Here

I'll be 70 in two months, my husband is coming up to 71 and we have been married 47 years. Among other issues, we have, between the two of us, one pacemaker, four cataract removals, a hip replacement, a fractured ankle, one bladder lift and a dose of cancer. Too many of our friends are only memories and just recently my dear cousin told me that she was facing cancer, again, with only months to live.

Years ago we bought an old boat from a young man who was heading to New Zealand with his wife and child to be close to their families. They needed a lot of support. His wife was in the last few meters of an impossible race with breast cancer and she was stumbling badly. It was a terrible story and a sad goodbye to the pleasures of boating for him and his wife.  It was such a bittersweet situation. We were buying a boat and anticipating exploring BC waters with our own family. They needed to leave quickly for New Zealand and wanted a swift sale. The price they set was fair, everything was straightforward and the sale was a huge relief for them.

Those 19 years ago, little did we know, we were in for an adventure. Neither of us had boated in ocean waters. Growing up in Ontario and boating on small lakes meant we were used to water that tended to stay put. It didn't  move sideways and up and down and it didn't have BC's logs, deadheads, wild currents and hidden nasty rocks.  We didn't jump into West Coast boating blindly and we knew adventures needed preparation. The Canadian Power Squadron Course scared us silly, or rather scared us appropriately for rough, tidal Pacific waters.

Now it's time for a new adventure. However, there's one picky little point. We still have that old boat we bought 19 years ago. We aren't circus contortionists and are too creaky to be scampering all over its confined spaces.  The old boat should go to new owners and we want that new adventure.

I remember that after my breast cancer treatments, we gathered up the kids and took off for a European trip shoving aside an "interesting" financial situation that could have stalled us. It was a spontaneous adventure and we had a great time.

With over 140 years between me and my husband, we said, "What the hell, what are we waiting for? How much healthy living have we got? It's time for a new boat!"

We found one.

While outfitting our new (to us) boat and stripping the other for sale, that young family comes back to mind.  They are part of the tapestry of people I have met facing cancer, some of whom are alive and well, some of whom are not.

We do not intend to wait for someday to have our adventure. "Someday's Here."