Sailing with Cookies

8/16/20 Sunday

The heat warms by bones, the wind fills the sails, and the water cools my fingers as I reach over the rail and drag my hand through the sea. It’s been busy lately, and if I’m not working the days are being spent camping, fishing, swimming, and sailing.

A year and a half ago when my ex-wife and I split up, I tried what seemed the appropriate response – I posted myself belly up at the nearest bar with a big mug of beer. Watching football and attempting small talk with the people around me, it was soon obvious that this was not the direction I wanted to go. Since then I hardly drink, don’t smoke, and drugs were never for me. I work out and stay active, likely to a fault. I run full steam ahead, because I’m afraid of falling back. Moving forward with whomever and whatever are still around me, I cherish my time on this planet and appreciate everyone and everything around me. The sun feels more intense, the water colder, the sky bluer, and these chocolate chip oatmeal cookies are next level as my little ship pushes forward through the waves of time.

after-the-rain.org / Cookies on the boat

Author: Rainey

after-the-rain.org What started out as chicken scratch notes on the back pages of my boat’s logbook has now grown into a blog. These words and images help me cope with a loved one struggling with mental illness, and they help guide me through divorce, and the process of moving on. Thanks for reading along as I learn about life the hard way, do the best I can for my son in my new role as a single dad, and find weird similarities between restoring an old blue water sailboat and putting the pieces of my own life back together. Come check out my story and feel free to say hi!

14 thoughts on “Sailing with Cookies”

  2. You are one with nature and that’s all it matters. The wind in your hair, the saltiness in your mouth and the sound of the waves. Nothing else matters as much.

    Maybe that cookie.

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  3. The cookies sounds great but you look pretty damn good too. #SorrynotSorry 😁 I am so glad you are beginning to find your harmony within the waves of life. You have the key to your happiness: a grateful heart and a glass half full attitude. You are gonna be ok Rainey!! 🤗

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    1. We all struggle, it’s how we face the adversity that matters. Sometimes I don’t do so well, sometimes I do. Today I just want to go for a walk on the beach then take a big fat nap.

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  4. Female perspective… Just keep doing what you enjoy doing, and put yourself “out there” with what you *do*. I think the impulse is to rebound into a bad second marriage in order to assuage the loneliness. (Women do it too.) But good relationships have to be based in something mutually shared… a common interest, activity, or objective that keeps you engaged with each other long enough to grow some intertwined roots for the time when the flowers lose their color.

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    1. Beautifully said, and good advice for me to keep in mind. I don’t necessarily think of myself as lonely but my god I know I could go for a date.
      I like the idea of a common interest, and know from experience that “like” can be as important as “love” in long term relationships. Hope I explained that right.

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  5. This is a great way to begin healing…make time for stillness when you can Rainy. Perhaps writing in a journal will help your thoughts and feelings to surface so you can continue moving on in your mind as well as physically. I’m sure that sailing helps that as well. I wish you all the best.

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  6. I practise swimming and breathing well is an important thing. You like swimming? What kind of fish you get there? How old is your son now? I think it’s good to have a clean life as you have. 😁😉

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  7. I practise swimming and breathing well is an important thing. Swimming is my passion. You like swimming? What kind of fish you get there? How old is your son now? I think it’s good to have a clean life as you have. 😁😉

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    1. Hi, I swim and work on my breathing sometimes to help me become better at surfing. The waters here are famous for salmon, orcas, otters and whales. My son just turned 11 but acts more like a teenager 🤪

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