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redhead · 15-10-2020, 08:41

Let me tell you what happened last night.

We are lucky to live on a dock surrounded by people just like us. I don't mean we agree on politics or boat size or which beer is better. We are basically out on the end of the commercial dock because we are all pretty big and ugly and they have nowhere else to put us. And that's just fine with us. We all love the isolation - once the fishermen have gone home it's just us which is good.

Last night we were standing around on the dock when a small sailboat came into sight obviously not under command (more on that later). The currents are wicked strong even inside the harbor and this guy was in trouble. He was heading for a collision with one of the 65 foot shiny boats and a guys puts his body between the sailboat and the yacht to fend off. Somehow, the sailboat veers off, but this guy is hanging over the side and falls in the water.

Now there was no yelling and shouting accompanying this scene. It was eerily quiet. And we are watching. So the sailboat just drifts away and leaves the man in the water. I don't know the exact temperature of the water right now, but it's probably below 50F. We on the dock look at each other for a second and then...and then...

Like we had rehearsed it, one of us jumps in a nearby dinghy and heads over to the man in the water. Another of us runs to their boat to grab blankets, someone else remembers a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt, another heads off to heat up tea water. All without a word.

After the young man (drunker than I've ever seen anyone in my long life) has been dried off, reclothed and given tea we drive him home. Soggy, cold and still drunk but alive. The one of us who picked up the man overboard had gone back and towed the sailboat to the launch ramp. They never asked about their "friend" in the water, which is so odd it scares me.

That being said, I am so happy about what we did. We all know somehow that we are forming our own community and last night proved that it is indeed a good community. That years from now we'll look back and tell stories about the year(s) we spent at this dock and the friendships formed.

I think myself and everyone I know is fatigued. By covid, by isolation, by political tempests (at least here in the US). Last night made us grin, it made more sense than all the other nonsense we've been through these last months, it put it all in perspective. And today, we're all smiling.