12/31/15   Thursday    Stuart, FL

New Year's Eve continued...

Christmas lights. Fireworks. Birthday party. Pot lucks. Cool breeze on the aft deck. Small worry about how kitty is faring with the heat. David has been a trooper in getting the tarp/sunshade over the mast. We both put the curtains up all around to keep the sun out. Someone at a potluck tonight talked about getting car eye shades for the major windows in their boat. An idea that has some merit. David is now searching for the wind scoop which I don't think we brought with us. I don't know how it would work with our reversed forward hatch anyway. But, go for it, David.

This marina has a number of return customers and we all seem to play together nicely. The potluck food was in the lounge where the football fans took over to watch the Orange Bowl (I think. Clemson won). I played "Heads Up', an app for your phone that is a version of charades but with verbal cues rather than acting out. This was with the patio crowd who didn't want to watch football. There was a birthday party around the fire pit and another group a little farther away. Now, I'm back at the boat in the cool breeze aft deck and I hear singing from the general direction of the  dock house/clubhouse. It is likely to be a bit noisy tonight but there is little traffic noise from the highway which is very near.

Haven't done much thinking about the year finishing. David and I, and me separately, have done some major traveling this year which has been so rewarding.

• We went to NC for last Christmas -
• I continued onto CUBA with an arts education group and met some wonderful people I'll probably not see again. Still, a wonderful excursion/journey into a new land.
• We spent so much time trying to make Wayne healthy, finally helping him to die or being present to witness his decline and departure. So much learning there. I feel we may have missed some cues, opportunities to end, before we had the courage to help his ending. No rancor, just thoughtful. Similar to my missing cues with my day. Small regrets but no blame. I DO hope to have learned when/how to just BE present without that ever present pull to DO something...to make it better, to help, to follow advice of others, to "do the right thing" without paying attention, or enough attention, to gut feelings.
• The joy of meeting Wayne's brother and sis-in-law and his nephews at his "funeral". Keith and Ann are loves.
• We traveled to Spain to visit w/Dick and Nora...just in time as they decided to put the condo on the market soon after we left. A terrific visit, again to a new place/country for us.
• Summer brought an premier production of Love & Lobsters to FCP w/David and me on stage with scripted lines. Oh my.
• I keep learning from my experience as Board President for FCP.
• We made Grace ready for another attempt - successful this time - of an ICW journey. This journey (Maybe we're halfway through) continues to bring lessons and new friends and joy and stretches.
• I "made something", a dance sketch at BDF in David Parker's class. Hard, courageous, fun, gratifying to be continuing to "make something" in dance in spite of age and fear of humiliation. Oh well.

I think I'm hearing bagpipes just now. And maybe dance music, but these are not my dance buds.

• We took a few people out on sailing trips but not enough to call ourselves a business.
• Went swimming in the ocean, off the boat, with Maggie, Shannon and friends.
• Invited Sharyl to come live w/us while she recovered from surgery. So many surgeries this lovely woman has endured. Hoping 2016 brings no additional ones. Enough already.
• Almost got Sharyl moved into an apartment in town so she wouldn't be so physically isolated in that beautiful spot on Rt 125. We fear her being  so on her own there. Strong and independent as she is, she has mobility issues that cause concern.
• I went to uNCSA's 50th anniversary and had a blast reconnecting with some old acquaintances.
• Saw Maggie "step up" to high school.
• Watched Shannon continue to grow in her own person while ast being an amazing parent.
• Missed Radio for the first time in many years
• Had a skype-y Christmas with Maggie, Shannon and Sharyl.
• Enjoying a number of new friends and new experiences as we continue our ICW cruise
• Learning, daily, with David - enjoying, stretching, cuddling in, giving space...this ICW portion of our journey together will always be hard to describe in less than 10,000 words.
• Witnessed, at a distance, so many human tragedies - physical and of the spirit, bombing in Paris a recent tragedy...and witnessed, again at a distance, such generosity both physical and spiritual , people providing refugees with water, bananas and clothing as they arrived in Greece, for example.
• Nancy Clark - mentor to David, iconic community treasure - passed over just this week.

The list goes on and on. So grateful for all the spirits that surround me, love me, support me, challenge me. Quoting Laura Faure's holiday wish words because they are well stated...

Sending best wishes for a better world in 2016.  

May we practice gratitude for any good fortune, cultivate love, compassion and kindness for all living things, 
and seek equality and justice for all.