Sailing

As I look out the window at the beautiful and tranquil Atlantic Ocean, I see a dozen small sail boats slicing through the water in an obvious race of some kind. Their colorful sails full of wind, move seamlessly in a predesignated pattern.

I am reminded of my days at summer camp in North Carolina. The camp was (true to my family’s pattern of sending me to all girls EVERYTHING, boarding school, junior college etc.) a time to enjoy outdoor activities and learn new sports. My favorite was sailing. I loved the swish of the sails as they caught the wind and the feeling of freedom gliding along the water. But to be completely honest, I also loved the fact that sailing was the only activity that permitted the girls in our camp, Green Cove, to mingle with the boys in the adjacent boy’s camp. Much like Darcy during her time at the Brandywine School, I made sailing and meeting boys a high priority.

I often wonder what my parents were afraid of? Why they thought my sister and I had to be sequestered with girls all the time. It was not a normal, social-maturing way to grow up. Consequently, being around boys became so much more important to us both. We never had a boy as a real friend, only as our “boyfriends”. There is a real distinction. We were not promiscuous in any way (how could we be? We never had the chance.) But we did put an undue importance of socializing with the male sex…because it was discouraged on all fronts.

Seeing those sailboats this morning also reminded me of when Alex and Danielle, in Despicable Lies, chartered a sailboat and only a few hours later were involved in a boating accident. The incident is both funny and a forewarning of things to come. It’s the first introduction to the Pierce family, which becomes increasingly more important in the storyline and in the sequel, Second Chances.

It’s interesting how seeing one thing (The sailboat races this morning) can bring up so many associated memories and questions. I guess since both my parents are dead, my sister and I will never know their reasons behind the parenting decisions that they made, but I can say, as a direct result, I sent my daughter to a private boys’ and girls’ Montessori pre-school and then to public elementary, junior high and high school. Had my daughter lived, I know she would have gone to a co-ed college.

Until my next inspiration…ciao

Photo by OC Gonzalez on Unsplash