Turn of the Wheel

Soon after the turn of the millennium, we took a sailing vacation on the boat my wife’s friends had built.  I once lived on a 25 foot boat for a couple of years, but this one was over 50 feet long, with several rooms, electricity and an array of instruments and computer-assisted navigation aids.  It was built to sail anywhere.  I had not expected we would sail into a time portal.

After two days sail, we docked in Port Townsend on the morning of July 4^th.  My wife had been recovering from flu and wanted to sleep.  I was full of energy and curiosity, so I got up with the sun and began walking into town.  I went with an open heart and no particular expectations, to see what there was to see.  As I strolled along the main street I saw a great number of buildings with dates from the 1880s and 90s.  No one was up yet.  I was a lone seaman, adrift on dry land, gazing at a ghost town from a viewpoint 120 years in the future.  Or was I the ghost?

Spirit animals acted as guides to beckon me through the streets.  I followed a group of ducks who knew better than I where to go.  After a couple of blocks, they turned in an alley.  A bakery was there, and the early loaves were being loaded onto a delivery truck.  As the town awoke, I walked up a long street inclined along the coast.  I saw homes from another era.  I walked into the neighborhoods and saw deer grazing near the yards.  They looked at me casually, and returned to their breakfast.

I felt that I recognized where I was going.  The sun came out and embraced me as I followed my instinct into a park.  I entered a fortified area with long, white barracks.  People were gathered.  Fiddle tunes were playing, reels and jigs from long before my birth.  The Celtic side of me sang along inside.  I decided I wanted this place to be my home one day.  I dared to hope for it.

The experience of that unplanned adventure has sustained me in the years since.  I changed professions and endured separation from those I hold dear.  When I moved to this region in February, I did not know where I would be able to obtain work.  I applied all over, in more than 20 different towns.  Two of the three jobs I was offered were in the very town I had sailed into years ago.  They were ten minutes apart from each other.  The icing on the cake was that Mrs. Invisible found us the perfect house ten minutes from the jobs.  People use the word “coincidence” because the trip is just too heavy.

There have been some delays.  The house purchase paperwork struggle isn’t over.  They are still paving the road outside the urgent care.  Business is down there because it’s hard for patients to get in.  However, tourists are beginning to pour into town for the summer festivals.  The road will be open soon.  We will be getting our house soon.  We won’t have to live at Motel 2 ½ for much longer.  Our belongings from California will be coming soon.  We will soon be living in the town I first entered by boat, and walked about in as if I were a character in a dream.

I was disconnected.  I’ve been re-connecting.  I’m getting a new phone number for home and wireless.  We bought new phones.  We’ll have satellite TV, and DSL for internet.  I need to change email addresses and reconfigure this blog for it.  We’ve selected new beds.  The church and senior center are having big sales in a few weeks.  We’ll be giving away lots of clothes, appliances and furniture we won’t have room for at Casa DeLuxe.

I thought about all these things today while watching my wife sleep.  She likes to sleep late.  Perhaps I’ll be more like that when I retire.  The cats have taken it all in stride.  It’s only miraculous to me.