‘Maybe I’m Amazed’
Matt and I left for Holland today as soon as he was out of work. Without even stopping to eat I had him change into clothes I had laid out for him and shoved a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a can of Pringles in his hand as we ran out the door. The drive seemed to take painfully long this time as I was actually looking forward to heading out there on this occasion. It was a beautiful evening for May, still in the low 80’s at 6:00 in the evening, so I didn’t think anything of throwing on a strapless sundress as we headed out to the water. As soon as we got closer though, I watched the temperature drop into the high 70’s, low 70’s, and finally into the low 60’s by the time we pulled into the parking lot at Eldean’s. It had gone down 20 degrees in the span of 35 miles. Damn Michigan and it’s random weather changes! Or damn me for not checking the forecast and putting style over comfort. Either way I was too eager about the boat to give it a second thought.
Walking the docks it was slightly amusing for me trying to find the boat for the first time. We were given a dock and slip number, but once we got to the dock Serendipity was on my eyes kept jumping to every boat that slightly resembled her going “Is it that one?…..Is that one it?”. Not that we disregarded the slip number and almost walked on a boat that wasn’t ours, but I was so giddy with excitement that I wanted to find her and get on her as soon as possible. We finally came upon her 2 slips from the end of the dock. She looked beautiful in the water, and we climbed in opening hatches and the companionway to let some fresh air and real light in. It was amazing the difference it made to the cabin vs the artificial light we were used to in storage. It made it feel so open and almost 50% larger. The colors and the grain on the teak really started to show through. The sun that was setting shone through the portholes and made the cabin glow. It was at that moment I got what I had been waiting all winter for, and that was the reward that all my hard work and labor was worth it 10 times over.
Matt and I hadn’t planned much work for the boat that night. Our trip out was mostly just to see that the boat had made it safely in the water and just to see what she would look like wet and with her mast up. We decided to tackle a few small projects while we were there like putting up the dodger and bimini. There were still larger projects to be done, but we didn’t have the time or all the supplies to complete them yet. Plus as the sun started to set, temperatures plummeted even further down and all I could think about was jumping in the car and blasting the heat. We made plans to come back the next night ready to do some real work and took one last look at Serendipity sway in the water as the first few stars started to dot the sky.