Part 1
I am by the Sea, and since I can remember, the sea has always played a big part in my life. I’ve learned a lot from the sea. I long to be in the water, by the water, all the time….. It feeds my soul in some mysterious way…… and it is a true metaphor to me, for life. I often write about the sea in songs.
I grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. Indianapolis is an area absent of water, except the white(dirty) River, and a reservoir called Geist. When I was a child, Geist was owned by the water company, accept for one tiny parcel of land, that was owned by the Indianapolis Sailing Club. Every weekend my mom and dad would race their sailboat, and for 5-7 hours I would play hide and seek in the shipyard, make bottle boats, or hide in the ladies room and draw pictures until my parents returned to their dock. My dad was from Morehead City, NC and I knew he needed to sail. He worked so hard during the week, and when we would drive to the club, I would see this twinkle in his eye, that just made me know that the world was good!!!
When I was about 12, my mom got the flue, and I had to be the second mate. My dad and I were in first place in this particular race. It was an unbelievable day, and I was just sooo excited because my dad liked to win, and he was in heaven, Towards the last hour of the race, a storm blew in! Things got REALLY exciting. We were about to win, and needed to make a jibe. I couldn’t get the jib up, so my father asked me to take his place ,and take over the rudder while he put the jib up. He said “Now, When I yell turn port, You turn port”…. He got the jib up and yelled “Turn Port” and of course my dyslexia and anxiety got my mind all mixed up, and I turned starboard, and he flew off the boat. He was screaming, I was screaming, and fortunately this all happened close to this little island, so I ran the boat ashore, and my dad was able to get back on the boat. We ended up coming in last. He was actually pretty cool about the whole thing. Didn’t really say much……. But I was just so bummed out for letting him down.
After I got over my disappointment, I continued to sail. I had become pretty good at sailing, and I actually won the Junior Regatta. Sailing is like writing a song. If you don’t think, and you just feel the wind……..guiding the sails becomes natural. But if you start trying to manipulate the wind….. You just better watch out…….. cause the wind’s got a mind of it’s own…..and it will let you know what’s up!!! Stay tuned later this week for Part 2, in a three part series……….All about what the wind and Sea mean to me! 
Peace Out,
