One of the things I love about being an entrepreneur, along with being a sailor, is the new tide. Each day, as if powered by a machine, a few billions of gallons of water slide along the surface of the planet. The water makes its way into rivers and bays, up into creeks and streams. And as if called back by some Godly horn of retreat, it goes from whence it came only to return later that same day to do it all over again. Each new tide arrives with a host of flotsam and jetsam in which beach combers for eons, have discover untold treasures cast ahead in time by strangers from the past. That is how I view each new day, whether I am on the water or at my desk, what will the tide bring to me today? I wonder.
Today is like any other, but for me holds new promise and new opportunity. Last night's tide brought a new hope in the form of a job opportunity, which might take me across the country and 90 miles up a river in the Northwestern US. Or it might not, who knows, it was just the promise of a new life that washed ashore but one that has given me new ideas and new direction.
It kept me up all night last night, which was quite convenient, because I had to bake bread this morning and send a loaf to work with my wife for soup day at the dental practice. This tidal delivery was ponder-some to my wife as well, who never sleeps quite soundly, but managed to get a few more minutes than I did last night. I suspect she was more at ease with this idea because for her, this would be a return voyage out west rather than an expeditionary adventure from back east as is my case. Her Grandfather served in the USCG in Upstate Washington in the early part of the 20th century and Jennifer has seen the area and heard a great deal more from family stories handed down about her Grandparents and their service to our Nation, along with their spirit of adventure. She comes from good stock, a pair of military officers for fathers and community leader for a mother. In truth I am a little envious of her lineage, now that I know how rotten and hollow the trunk of my family tree seems to be. But I rather enjoy the prospect of being present when Jennifer mingles with the spirits of her ancestors in the wilderness of Washington State. We will make it there one way or another this Spring, as we have pressing family business to attend to and I have an old friend to visit with a new life of his own he needs to show me. So we are going whether this promising lead pays out or not.
The question is whether we stick around for a spell or wander back east in a hurry. We have a bus to build and a Great Loop to film back east, but maybe all those grand plans should be put on hold to truly live the Charted Life and not just film it for others enjoyment. I have an announcement brewing about the "maybe someday" show as soon as I get the final numbers from an ambitious boat builder who hopes we will buy a $1 Million worth of boats from them for the premier season of the Great Loop 2020. But I have been waiting for that announcement since October of 2019 and for some reason they tell me each day its coming, but as of today there was no trace of their news on this mornings tide. But so often that is the way that tides work.
Much like prayers, wishes and dreams, tides don't always provide you with what you want, but always provide you with what you need. And I have been walking the surf for months, hoping to find the bones of a TV show, only to find the fodder for a great story and blog. So we shall see what comes of this message in a bottle. Will it be the treasure map I have pined for, or simply directions to the bananas for an impromptu pudding? The locals of OBX tell a tale about a ship that washed ashore sometime in the last century loaded down with bananas bound for New England. The cargo was wrapped tight in self contained seawater resistant wrappers so the fleshy sweetness arrived on the beach whole and ready for noshing. The ladies of the day sent their children scurrying down the beach combing for bananas and rewarded them with a southern delicacy of banana pudding and so the tradition began. That is what they would have you believe anyway, but just as the rumors of the invention Brunswick stew abound in Brunswick, Georgia and the Wright Brother's first in flight status abounds in Kitty Hawk, I also doubt this story. If they didn't have a steady source of bananas, how did they get a pile of Nilla Wafers to make a pudding at edge of the civilized world on the Outerbanks? But a good story is a good story, so we'll just let them have their pudding and eat it too.
But it illustrates an excellent Eastern Carolina point. The residents of this area know that you can no more demand something from the tide, than you can command the waters that deliver such items, to retreat. Its all up to His plan and sometimes He delivers a chest of gold and other times a chest of bananas. You can't choose what you get, but it is what you make of it that makes it a great story for the ages.
So will my tidal find work out and will I find myself on a river in the Northwest, or will I stay perched on the shores the North Atlantic at the cross roads of the sailing world here in Beaufort, NC? Only the time and tide will tell, so stay tuned.
It kept me up all night last night, which was quite convenient, because I had to bake bread this morning and send a loaf to work with my wife for soup day at the dental practice. This tidal delivery was ponder-some to my wife as well, who never sleeps quite soundly, but managed to get a few more minutes than I did last night. I suspect she was more at ease with this idea because for her, this would be a return voyage out west rather than an expeditionary adventure from back east as is my case. Her Grandfather served in the USCG in Upstate Washington in the early part of the 20th century and Jennifer has seen the area and heard a great deal more from family stories handed down about her Grandparents and their service to our Nation, along with their spirit of adventure. She comes from good stock, a pair of military officers for fathers and community leader for a mother. In truth I am a little envious of her lineage, now that I know how rotten and hollow the trunk of my family tree seems to be. But I rather enjoy the prospect of being present when Jennifer mingles with the spirits of her ancestors in the wilderness of Washington State. We will make it there one way or another this Spring, as we have pressing family business to attend to and I have an old friend to visit with a new life of his own he needs to show me. So we are going whether this promising lead pays out or not.
The question is whether we stick around for a spell or wander back east in a hurry. We have a bus to build and a Great Loop to film back east, but maybe all those grand plans should be put on hold to truly live the Charted Life and not just film it for others enjoyment. I have an announcement brewing about the "maybe someday" show as soon as I get the final numbers from an ambitious boat builder who hopes we will buy a $1 Million worth of boats from them for the premier season of the Great Loop 2020. But I have been waiting for that announcement since October of 2019 and for some reason they tell me each day its coming, but as of today there was no trace of their news on this mornings tide. But so often that is the way that tides work.
But it illustrates an excellent Eastern Carolina point. The residents of this area know that you can no more demand something from the tide, than you can command the waters that deliver such items, to retreat. Its all up to His plan and sometimes He delivers a chest of gold and other times a chest of bananas. You can't choose what you get, but it is what you make of it that makes it a great story for the ages.
So will my tidal find work out and will I find myself on a river in the Northwest, or will I stay perched on the shores the North Atlantic at the cross roads of the sailing world here in Beaufort, NC? Only the time and tide will tell, so stay tuned.
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