Friday, February 12

happiness

Since a few have asked to see the picture I was talking about yesterday, I decided to dig it out. It was taken pre-digital camera, and I actually haven't physically seen it in a long time, but carried the image around in my head. So here it is...


I know there was nothing exceptional going that day, so I think I always had that energy. By nothing exceptional, I mean something like a birthday or a holiday or something. That said, it was in general an exceptional time in my life.

It's taken in our home... our sailboat. And I'm about 7 months pregnant. We were living on the boat, working on a post-doc and writing a thesis. Waking to the characteristic sound of the port. The clanging of chains, creaking of dock lines.

There was a bath house at the marina that we used... no shower on board and we used the toilet only in dire midnight emergencies. You can imagine how many dire mid-night emergencies a 7 month pregnant woman might have ;) We had no oven or stove and cooked all of our on board meals in a coffee pot. Things like raman noodles and instant oatmeal.

And it was January. Granted, January in the San Francisco Bay isn't too bad, but it can get a tad nippy at times. We had a little portable electric space heater when we were home at night. This was great motivation for me to go hang out on the university campus during the day.

There were pelicans. And in the channel out to the bay, sea lions. And in all this, there I am. Couldn't be happier. In the middle of doing something... who knows what. I turned around and M snapped this photo. Just perfect.

10 comments:

  1. I love this picture of you. It makes me remember such times in my own life - wonderful, happy, in love times, with our lives full to bursting, and knowing that the best is yet to come as well. It makes the heart soar.

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  2. Love the picture ! It sure must have been some life isnt it !

    to live in a sail boat and work on a thesis ! Well, swimming against the tide is everyday life here...but then..with a sailboat in tow, things are different !

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  3. That is a great picture. I cannot imagine being trapped on a boat with my pregnant wife.

    Did I say trapped?

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  4. Looks like a nice boat! But ours is homey...and in Waikiki LOL!


    Aloha, Friend!


    Comfort Spiral

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  5. I'm glad I didn't miss this post. I am glad to see you. You are cute and vibrant. Living on water is indeed happiness. It is the simplicity I miss the most.

    Thank you for sharing the post and the picture.

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  6. You look sooooo happy. I don't even know you and I love that picture!

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  7. Beautiful photo! Thank you for sharing it. I think I know exactly what you are talking about. & these memories are the ones to treasure, that is for sure.

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  8. Just a few more funny facts about the picture:

    At one point I slipped and fell down the stairs that go into the cabin. I had the most horrid bruises down my side, hip and thigh. When I went in for the midwife appointment, they asked M to leave the room to talk about what had happend. I though "oh, great... who's going to believe I live on a sailboat" Turned out the midwife lived in the marina next to ours.

    Second, re Dumbass feeling trapped, Not only did M and I live there but MY mother moved in with us for the last 6 weeks!!! She had the front birth. It was interesting. M has secured his place in heaven or at least the list of world's greatest husbands for how graciously he handled the situation.

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  9. Gorgeous! You are a brave woman to live on a boat at that time of your life.

    My pregnancy #1 I probably felt that good at that point. Maybe not so much in pregnancy #2, because I was an insomniac for much of it and the lack of sleep was wearing by 7 months.

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  10. Thank you so much for giving us these little glimpses into your life. Warms my old, cranky heart, it does!

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...and you may ask yourself, well...how did I get here?