One of the last cool things I did with my mom

 was when I was sailing my boat from Kodiak to Friday Harbor, Washington.

We agreed to meet in Vancouver, BC and go through the Expo Mart together. It proved to be a pretty good time.

Dad had been gone a couple of years and mom had accepted it and decided to do a few things. She flew into Vancouver, BC and I met her at the airport. We went there to my boat where I simply threw a sleeping bag at her and pointed to a rack and said it was hers. She laughed and shook her head and made her rack up.

I think dinner that night was fish and chips from a stand on the docks about 50 feet down the dock.

We both agreed that full days at the Expo would be a burn-out so we made plans to see it between about 9 and 3 and then spend the late afternoon and evenings doing local stuff.

It worked out pretty well because the area around the Expo Mart was commercialized heavily and overpriced. Even something like a simple hot dog was a pretty penny.

Instead after seeing the sights of the Expo Mart we'd scout out little shops and places to eat. I remember one little Italian restaurant that looked like a quaint scene out of a movie and the meal cost very little. It was excellent.

I told my mother "Order the veal. It's the best in the city." She laughed and asked me where she had hear that said before. 

When I told her it came from 'The Godfather' she smiled and said, "Oh, I remember!" and shook her head. 

The little place was one of those places that had daily specials of one sort or another and when I asked my waiter he told me what was fresh that day. I wound up with a seafood plate of some sort. Mom had the same.

We wandered through the streets of Vancouver and stopped off at a little place near the docks full of fishermen and had a drink before returning to the boat. Ma asked about my shipmate, Ari. Ari was a recently discharged Israeli para that was traveling through the States. I had met him in Kodiak and offered to take him for a sail.

He jumped at the offer because he was an adventurer at heart.

When we were on the docks again I briefed Mom on toilet facilities and where the showers were and a few other things.

I also warned her that my shipmate was likely to pop in during the middle of the night and not to be alarmed. He had agreed to try and crash somewhere else if he could but agreed if push came to shove he'd always have a rack.

That part of the conversation was pretty funny.

"If he drops in, he most likely will be half in the bag," I said.

"Where's he going to sleep if he's not at the boat?" asked Ma.

"He'll likely use his charms and find himself a warm bed somewhere," I replied. 

"I don't like to put anyone out," she said.

"Don't worry about it," I replied."If he doesn't find a place he'll slip in and grab the quarter berth."

The next morning Ma asked me how the shower worked. I told her to grab her clothes, towel, soap and the ship's bag of quarters and head on up and she did, returning cleaned up. When she returned I grabbed the bag of quarters and noticed it was heavier. That figured. Then I grabbed my shower kit and went and got cleaned up.

Then we cooked breakfast and took off for the Expo Mart. On the way we met my shipmate, Ari. Mom was concerned and asked him where he had spent the night. I interrupted and told Ma it was really none of her business. Ari was a little red so I knew I had saved him from hemming and hawing.

After we did the second day at Expo Ma wanted to go back to the dock area and do a little shopping. I had some boat work to do so that was fine. Mom returned with some groceries and went below after telling me she was trying some sort of a new recipe. She told me to try and find Ari and have him in for dinner. 

I went up to the bar at the top of the dock and told the barkeep to send Ari to the boat if he saw him and he said he would. I went back to the boat and went back to my splicing.

Suddenly a hatch opened and her hand stuck up and threw a handful of fish skins over the side. When I saw that I knew she had adapted and shortly afterwards dinner was ready.

About 5 minutes before dinner Ari appeared out of thin air and looked at me. "What, Kapitan?" he asked. I told him he was invited to dinner.

We ate and after a respectable time passed Ari retured to where he had come from. Ma and I talked and then turned in fairly early.

It was pretty late when I heard the hatch slip open and Ari started to ghost his way into the salon. Ma heard it, too.

'What's that?" she asked.

'Ari," I answered.

"Oh, good," said Ma.

"Not good," I said. "He's half in the bag and being chased by a jealous boyfriend. I'll be up all night with the shotgun standing guard."

"What?" she asked in a worried tone.

"Go back to bed, Ma," I said.

She laughed. "You two characters," she said and inside a minute she was out like a light and started sawing wood.

Ari was in the quarter berth and out like a light in an instant, too. He needed no lights to get to bed.

The next day she announced she was getting a room and would do so every other night. On the first late afternoon I borrowed her tub for a long soak. We grabbed a fast light supper togetherand caught a movie and laughed ourselves silly. It was "Crododile Dundee."

Ari and I holed up together on the boat and Ma would be there as we crawled out and she'd board and cook breakfast.

The three of us spent a day together and went for an afternoon sail in the Fraiser River. We kind of got fogged in and for about an hour as it was getting dark and it was touch and go as huge freighters passed us by.

I remember Ma looking up at a huge moving wall of steel thirty feet away from us and looking scared.

We got back in OK and tied up.

All in all we had a pretty good time and spent a week together.

She remembered that trip until the end. According to a number of people the memories of it were one of the last things Alzheimer's took from her years later.



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY