Sit down, you’re rockin’ the boat

Bon Voyage

Everyone told me that I wouldn’t feel it. Yet as I lay in bed, snug in our stateroom many miles out to sea, I do feel the rocking. For weeks leading up to our cruise vacation, this fear has nagged at me; would I feel the ship rocking and would it make me seasick? With the ocean deepening below us and the shores of home long receded from view, the rocking was a rhythmic, gentle roll this way, then that way.

Riding in a car over hills and around curves has induced me to physical sickness. The up-down jolts of air flight turns my innards to jelly. A windy day spent working on the top floor of a swaying office building has left me couch-bound for an evening. The human body, and psyche, prefers continuity; sameness is comfort.

Full Steam Ahead

Out on our balcony the next morning, I gaze out over the vast, deep, rippling ocean. Flecks of sea spray reach us far up on the tenth deck and the wake from the ship is a roiling of white foam among the various blues of churning water. We rock this way, then that way. This is the energy of the ocean, made tangible by the waves. Stare long enough and you really see it; wind and the pull of the moon together moving this salty water like shaking out a bed sheet. But instead of the instant snap of a sheet, the ocean waves roll on forever.

Years of discussion, months of planning, days of packing and finally we are on vacation. My first real vacation of relaxation and my first ever vacation to warm beaches. My body absorbs the rocking and I never once feel seasick. I swim in the ocean and, with my toes tucked into white sand, drip dry to skin covered with salt crystal patterns. Then I dive in again and let the tide tumble me in the shallows.

Out To Sea

Turns out I feel at home at sea, so much that it takes almost five days to get my land legs back. I would not have learned that if I wasn’t willing to have my boat rocked.

I’ve been cruising along all winter, musing and blogging, but largely bobbing in place. What should I do next? Salvage more old fiction and edit it into shape? Start trawling social networks for writing opportunities? Anchor my “talents” to my church and other non-profit groups? Scan the horizon for more classes and creative experiences?

I’m ready to see where the current takes me.