Saturday Morning Post: Boats

I have never owned a boat, my parents never owned a boat, I have always loved boats.  Growing up my one Aunt and Uncle owned a boat, a 20-something foot outboard boat. They had a house on a lake, and the boat spent the summers in the water out front, winters in a garage. On of the highlights of my summers were holidays and short breaks spent at the lake, with time out on the boat.  Later they had a little row boat, that I was turned loose with, the only limit was how far I could row.  

I remember as a child reading a couple of novels set on boats in the 1800's, pirate stories.  I remember asking the librarian in a small country library for everything she had set on sailing ships, I read all three of them.  I wanted to learn the language of the sea. I never did. I dreamed of writing, and lacked the research resources to do so.  I moved on to reading and dreaming about being a wildlife photographer.  

Yet I have always been attracted to boats.  Little boats, medium boats, ships.  If I ever live near the ocean again, I would love to have a view of a harbor and watch the big ships come and go. 

I have rented boats a few times, little one seaters, small power boats, even an electric boat on an alpine lake in the Alps. My first spouse couldn't swim and was terrified of boats.  A couple of years after I met Jay, we moved to Kentucky a state that has no natural lakes, just a few dammed up rivers.  Owning a boat there did make sense. I now live walking distance to the Potomac River, and I have thought about a boat again, but decided I would get more use out of the convertible.  

Boats are in my DNA.  Looking back at family history, there were men of the sea, and family that crossed oceans on ocean liners.