Once Upone a Time... I Fell in Love with a Skipper

I don't know if it is okay to write about someone I care about deeply. But I am going to. If she decides that my declaration to the world is over the top or uncalled for or unwanted then she only has to let me know and I will delete this post.

I will keep her name withheld only for her privacy. But she needs to know that she has truly been a huge blessing in my life and I am glad that I danced with her randomly in the subways of New York a couple years ago.

You see when you travel you met people that you may never see again. You may never have more than a small talk conversation. You may do, act and be someone that you only wish you were in a movie or maybe you feel like you are living a movie right then. And then reality sets in that somehow you have to go back to your life and they have to go back to theirs and that may take you both to other parts of the world.

Such is what happened with this girl and me. She was visiting New York City the same time I was, and randomly we met at a Hostel just one block away from Central Park. We decided to go down to Time Square together. Because I had found a piano in the window front lobby of a Bank. And wanted to play for her. We got lost, I believe, and by the time we got to the bank they were getting ready to close. I don't know how I persuaded the man to let me play but I schmoozed my way and he was letting us play a black grand piano for just a moment.

We had to run in the rain because the New York clouds thundered down on us. We broke an umbrella. Then in the subway drenched to the bone, with an iPod and split ear pieces we just danced waiting for a train. Who cares who watched, although a black man chuckled and remarked "Now that's what I like to see, two people loving every moment they have with each other!"

She and I didn't see each other much, until later when we found each other online and began talking over Skype. Our video chat conversations would roll way into the evenings. So many times I couldn't sleep. So many times I felt my chest burning that there was someone on this planet that understood me, cared about me, but more than that, she is someone who inspires me. What a gift she has been in my life.

Now her story fascinates me. She is a Skipper. She works on Yachts for a living, helping the wealthy enjoy their time on a cruise or wherever she happens to be sailing to. From the time I have known her she has been to the Bahamas, Spain, New Zealand and Florida. A life of adventure that is hers. A girl from South Africa living the dream of place to place to place and enjoying the salt air, music from many cultures, the food of the exotic, and the heat of many dance-filled nights.

Her whole life is amazing. She left her vacation to live off a dock until someone would hire her to help sail ships. Then she paid for schooling to get certified as a Skipper, and now she saves up money for the day she will pay cash for her house. She once told me, "I wont let any man get in the way of my dreams." And all I could think was how amazing her determination was and is. The man she does let into her life will be extremely fortunate.

She is like the wind right before it pushes the surface of the water. that instant when the ocean spray wakes up and is carried into the clouds. She is so passionate about her dreams--I haven't met anyone like her.

It's true
Something about her compels me to poetry because words themselves are lost in the hollow knock of sound trying to escape the rap of hunger. A word is no vessel buoyant enough to traverse the universe of poem. It is the magnetics of passion, and the drive of ambition that gravitationally pulls one into the orbit of wishing they could see her again.  It's like a prison trying to believe that that day could and can happen. And remaining completely unsure if reality will let you realize the freedom of a hug. Oh, how I miss her. And wish her the best. I wish to hug her and hold her, and express how thankful I am for her.

Yet, I knew that I had to let her go, because her need for companionship is more than text can carry. Words, became my ship, poetry my sail, but the wind is and will always be hers. And her ship sails in many places far from here. But I love her, for who she is. She is a Skipper after all.

Dan