by Ray Jason
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AVENTURA'S Earth Flag |
A fine sunset is beginning to pastel the sky. I am seated on AVENTURA’S cabin top watching
a great blue heron standing motionless in the twilight shadows, patiently
awaiting its dinner. The melancholy is heavy
on me tonight. These pristine, quiet,
un-peopled places do that to me.
My sweet, strong sailboat and I have been together for over a
quarter of a century. While aimlessly
meandering amidst some fond memories of our decades together, I am suddenly
jolted by an unpleasant realization. It is all so profoundly different now. When
we first sailed together, she was just a sea-going magic carpet, transporting me
to far-away lands, plush with exotic creatures and cultures. But now she has also become a survival pod,
protecting me from the possibility of societal collapse.