Recently I took my wife’s family out for a day sail. Sailing with my wife and her sister in October is cathartic for them because October is a bittersweet month. It’s the month my wife’s sister was born, and the month their brother died. We always try to focus on the birthday celebration, but it comes the day after the anniversary of their brother’s death and in the quiet moments you can tell they are missing him. He loved being on the water and fishing and it seems like he should be on the boat with us.
He’s been gone seven years now and we continue the tradition of sailing on Torena’s birthday. This year was a little different. We had granddaughter Evelyn with us, so there are very few quiet moments — a four-year old just knows how to keep the party going. Plus Evelyn loves photography and works on getting pictures of everyone and every bird we pass.
Soon chaos ensued. Dolphins spotted off the starboard side! Torena and granddaughter Evelyn were calling to the dolphins to come to the boat. There were at least two dolphin calves, so that made for even more excitement. My nephew was taking video with his cellphone, I was trying to shoot photos and sail the boat, all the girls were keeping an eye on the dolphin pod. It was about 30 minutes of pure joy. Then I noticed the coming storm out of the corner of my eye. It was time to put the camera down and get serious about getting us back to the dock.
My wife, Toni, took note when I cranked up the engine. I pointed to the wall of clouds headed our way and she quickly lowered the jib. Still, the storm couldn’t rob us of our joy. We were still happily watching for the dolphins as we headed to safety. We nearly beat the storm in. We just entered the marina when the sky opened up on us. The rain was cold and drenching. Toni was soaked, but didn’t stop smiling. It was a wonderful day, she said.
It seems every October sail we see dolphins, but this year was special. There were so many, there were tiny calves and the dolphins stuck with us for a long while, swimming under and all around the boat. She was sure it was a message from her brother that he was doing well and that we should always take joy in our October sails. I was glad I brought a camera that day. We focused so much on shooting the joyous dolphin event, that we almost missed seeing the storm.
