February 2011 Shipyard Travels and Other Lessons Lear from the Sea of Life - One of My God Stories
February 2011 Meteghan River, NS
Shipyard Travels and Other Lessons Learned From the Sea of Life
It was a cool crisp day here in Nova Scotia. The tease that arrives in between winter and spring, just to let you know warmer days are not here yet, but aren’t far away. Jamie had texted me and I was going to walk to the boat to eat lunch with him. I proceed to assemble the items I would need in my backpack. My nature is to be over prepared so I packed a book, pens, a tablet, my camera and did happen to remember to include some gluten free food to eat for lunch. I have been known, when in my over preparedness mode, to forget the essentials that are truly needed for my trip. Present case in point being that, I hadn’t remembered to bring gloves or a scarf to Nova Scotia; yet I thought to bring the dice game “Farkle”. Anyway, I knew I would have to have my hands free to keep in my pocket for the sake of warmth, for my hike to the shipyard; thus the backpack. Thanks to my over enthusiastic efforts to get ready to leave, the time had arrived quickly to depart -11:55am. Yes, due take note of the time, as the lunch hour is a very busy event, with traffic on the roads going to and fro, so they can have the freedom to enjoy their lunch break.
I headed out the door of the beautiful bed and breakfast where we were staying. The shipyard was a 5-10 minute walk, which was where I was to meet Jamie on the boat. With my hiking boots, turtle neck, a warm vest and my backpack, I stepped out to enjoy the sunshine. With my first breath taking in the indescribable smell of the salt air, I began to melt into my surrounds. The ocean is something that has always captivated me and as I gazed off in the distance I wondered who might be on the different vessels within my view. Might it be any of our old friends, we had become so fond through the many years Jamie had fished here in Nova Scotia. Lots of warm memories began to flow through my mind of the many times my children & I had been over here so we could spend some time with daddy, while his boat was in the shipyard. You see it was like you had two families, one at home and one whose bond grew from my husband’s love of the sea and our desire to be a part of his seemingly mystical working world on the ocean. My mind began to drift into the land of warmhearted memories. Suddenly my quiet, reminiscent walk came to an abrupt end, as I fell forward to the ground. In my migration off into my sea of dreams, I had suddenly become painfully unaware of where I was stepping. I had stepped into a small indentation in the ground, which had twisted my ankle and brought me to my two newly skinned, cut and bruised knees. Not forgetting to mention that my hand was bleeding as it had tried to instinctively break my fall. The hidden blessing was that it was cold enough that, other than my bleeding hand, I didn’t realize the extent of my fall, until I had arrived at the boat and warmed up.
After I checked my wounds and my pride began to heal itself, the ingrained humor in my personality began to reveal itself and I began to chuckle. Where was Canada’s Funniest Home Videos to capture my moment of glory, which I had freely provided for the entertainment of the noontime traffic? Not forgetting the fact that the noon whistle had blown and some of the shipyard workers were mixed amongst the noon travelers. This is one circumstance where it was good to feel alone while in a crowd of strangers.
In sharing the humor I had found later with a friend, their comment made me wonder what others who had observed this, might have actually thought. It saddened me to realize how, at times, in our humanness, we can be so quick to be judgmental. Who was this gray haired, drunken, homeless, grandmother with her backpack, who was stumbling while walking along the side of the road? God clearly spoke to my heart. Next time you observe someone be sure you make a conscious effort to reserve the judgment for Me (God) and try to allow yourself to see that person through the loving eyes of my son, Christ. (Matthew 7:1) 1“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
In conclusion you should also know that I had misunderstood my husband’s invitation. Jamie had intended that we go out for lunch, to eat with his crew, as the boat had no running water at this point in time. He was also on time with his departure, so there was no need for a book, pens, notebook and a camera to occupy my wait time. In my self defense though, you need to realize the many hours, of our married life, that I have spent waiting on the wharf, for what seemed like hours, for Jamie to be ready to depart. If you think for one moment that it is only woman who have the gift of conversation, you should witness a community of fisherman who have the sea as their bond. Thus through my past experiences, I learned that a book, notebook, pens, camera etc., had made for a more positive flow within our marital relationship during these wait times. You see, I had learned to be content where I was and enjoy my moments of wait time (Philippians 4:11) “11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” Well, unless of course I had been left on the wharf, in our van, with our two small children with me for an unexpected extended amount of time. As you have probably guessed we learned to divide and conquer that battle. Typically, Mom kept one and Daddy took one with him, which became the marital grace. Through these adventures, my children learned that over preparedness was an awesome skill to have acquired and not such a bad gene to have inherited. That, my friend, is a lesson of its own for another day.
Written by
Paulette Yvonne Stevens Matthews
February 2011
