2017 Life Logs, Day 296: Happy Birthday to Ed and Lynne
Date: Monday, October 23, 2017
Weather: STILL Warm and Sunny; High 70, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Yesterday and today were the birthdays of my good friends Ed and Lynne from Nyack, New York. We officially met on December 1, 2009, when I knocked on the hull of their boat in Rebak Marina in Lankawi, Malaysia, to introduce myself and say that I had heard from friends that they were headed across the Indian Ocean. Unlike all of our other friends, Mark and I had decided to head home by heading to southern India then going south to the Maldives, Chagos, Madagascar, and then around South Africa. Everyone else we knew were going to brave the pirates and head through the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea and then into the Med. We knew no one else going our way, until we heard about Ed and Lynne. Our boats were on the same dock, so I had seen them, but we had never officially met. That knock on the hull of their boat on the first day of December in 2009 started a lasting friendship. It was almost eleven months later, on Friday, October 22, 2010, after we had transited the Indian Ocean, that I first sent a happy birthday to Lynne over the radio. It was on her birthday that we got the weather go-ahead to cross from Madagascar to South Africa. So off we went. The next day, Saturday, was Ed’s birthday, and on Sunday we arrived in Richards Bay in South Africa. That was in 2010. Much water has flowed over the dam since then, but our friendship has continually strengthened. Happy birthday to two very special people in my world.

02 Sushi and Sundowners on Constance with Lynne and Ed

I spent my day doing a bit of accounting of things that I have sent to Justin and Jo in Puerto Rico over the past four weeks. It was on Wednesday, September 20, that Maria barreled her way across the island. Day after tomorrow it will be five weeks since the hurricane hit and so little of what has been sent has arrived. Three packages sent through the US Postal Service have arrived and none of the Amazon Prime packages. But hopefully more will arrive this week. Justin called in the morning to have me get on my computer to do some online banking for him (as he can’t do it from there), and then he called again in the afternoon to discuss current needs. Some of his stories of people he has met who have lost everything are heart-wrenching. When I hear those stories, I understand why he and Jo insist that they are fine. Their home, inside and out, was unscathed by the hurricane. They feel blessed by that and feel an obligation to help those not so lucky. I am so proud of their strength in facing the challenges and their desire to help those less fortunate. But as communications improve, Justin knows he must get back to work. That means less time to help others and to attend to the daily chores of survival. This afternoon’s conversation gave me a whole new list of things to research, so that will guide my day tomorrow.