Meetings and the Plans We Lay to Rest

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Our worries about a sinking boat were unfounded. But let me back up and explain how we discovered this information. Mom almost convinced me to put on Dad’s wetsuit and dive in for a look at the hull. She bribed me with money, and what can I say…however, the wetsuit was too big and Mom couldn’t find the mask. I’ve opened my eyes in salt water before, but that was in warm, Mexican surf. Plus, the thought of icy water trickling down my armpits and belly put a stop to any ocean adventuring on my part.

I hung around the boat until noon, finished off my leftovers from El Sombrero, blogged, searched websites for the best price on my dream camera (a Sony Alpha A200), and emailed. Then I too left, GRE book snuggled in my backpack, for the library.

It was certainly an afternoon of running into people. While looking for a bathroom, I started talking with a gill netter from Vermont who eventually asked me out for a drink. I’m still thinking about whether to take him up on the offer or not. Truthfully, after breakups, I’m just not interested for awhile--specially when the memories of laughter and love are still fresh in the heart and mind. All other men suddenly seem so dull and unattractive, and they make me sad.

However, running into my friend Emily, another college bud, cheered up my thoughts. We sat together studying all afternoon in the library, whispering occasionally about school or people we knew. It felt good to sit with an old friend, like being in college again. Emily had spent a year working in Juneau before jetting off to Boston to begin her Masters in Children’s Literature. She had one year left and talked about nothing but graduate school and the book she was writing. I was somewhat jealous, not that I was particularly interested in writing a book, but I wanted the passion I saw in her eyes. I dug deeper into my studies, trying to find something interesting about geometry and statistics.

At five I walked Emily to the bus stop where we ran into anther person we used to know from college. After hugs and goodbyes, I started ambling around Centennial Hall gazing up at the mountains looking for good cloud formations. Again, I ran into another person I used to know, Amy Fosket, who had gone to my church. I caught her as she was leaving work in the state building (I told you everyone works for the state here). We started out chit-chatting about the awful, cold weather, and then grew more passionate when I found out she had traveled to South America a few years ago. We stood for an hour as I asked her questions about everything from how much money to bring to Visas for Bolivia. We laughed over stories and shared tidbits of survival. Part of me wondered, as we parted and I was walking away, if I should ask her to travel with me this winter. No one else has the money or the time. Dratted normal life!

Back on the boat I found out that the hired diver had come and gone. He almost didn’t arrive. Appearantly he went to the wrong harbor and after searching around for our boat, called and chewed out Mom for not giving better instructions. They thought he wouldn’t arrive, but he eventually did, and apologized. He had had a big job earlier in the day pulling metal out of a bow thruster on a cruise ship and the task had left him a little stressed. 250 dollars and twenty digital pictures later, we found out that the only damage to the hull was scraped paint. I think we will all be breathing a little easier tonight.

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Photos

Sunset
Somewhere near Sitka at the end of a long day.

Alaskan Style
My dream truck, distinctly Alaskan, with rust eating the sides and a bumper made out of wood.

Ouchy
Diver pointing to the worst scrape on the hull. The rocks sure had fun that day.

Ouchy numba' two...
Another scrape...