Day 142, Year 6 Thinking of Michelle
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Weather: Mostly Sunny Day; Wind E 10-15 knots
Air Temperature: A Little Warmer Today, 76 – 84 degrees F
Location: Prickly Bay, Grenada
We have been waiting to hear the pathology report after Mark’s niece Michelle’s mastectomy last week. We read the report posted by Michelle’s husband Jim last night and then read Michelle’s “emotional side” post today on Caring Bridges. Since Michelle is posting there, I’m hoping she won’t mind my talking about her cancer in this log. The report reiterated that there was no cancer in the lymph nodes but went on to say that they are going to treat this aggressively and she will have chemo and possibly radiation. As she said, she always knew this was a possibility, but not until she got the actual report did it really hit her emotionally. But she is strong, and young, and beautiful on the inside as well as on the outside, and she will work her way through this. Michelle is an intensive care nurse, an avid tennis player, the mom of two teenage boys, and a wonderful wife and daughter. So now she, and all of us, just need to think positively and hope that a year from now, this will all be behind Michelle so she can move on through life an even stronger individual than she is today. Michelle, we love you and send our most positive thoughts your way today and every day.
Life aboard Windbird went a little slower today. I continued the spring cleaning process and Mark handled lines on Laelia to help Howard and Judy get their boat into the slipway to be taken out of the water. Laelia made it safely on land with only one little mishap where the wind blew them into the dock and they lost a metal piece on the rubrail. But that can be easily replaced. They then invited us to lunch at De Big Fish and tonight we are going to pick them up and we will have dinner here on Windbird. Tomorrow will be the last great push to get all the cleaning done inside Windbird so I can start the varnishing. The Dorade boxes are ready and waiting for that first coat of varnish and early tomorrow I will sand the teak piece that surrounds the cockpit. If the weather holds, I might get a coat of varnish on tomorrow, a second on Thursday, a third on Friday, and even a fourth on Saturday. But whatever gets done by Saturday is it. Steve arrives Saturday night and we will turn our attention to enjoying Grenada and the rest of the Caribbean as we sail northward. A little note about getting our headsail and staysail sun protective coverings replaced. The estimate for doing that was way more than we could afford. The price of Sunbrella is almost $30 a yard and we needed yards and yards. So we asked Johnny Sails to do what they could to patch things up. Those sails won’t be ready until Tuesday, so we are setting our departure from Grenada for Wednesday.
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