Teddy smiles. His eyes see the world afresh and he is
learning each moment. Teddy's gaze is totally engaging. He demands your attention. I am making goo goo sounds at him and odd
gastrointestinal sounds come out of my mouth. Teddy's
total body laughs. He dances joyfully.
Teddy is few days
older than nine months today. He is
more out of his mothers' womb than in it.
He is our first grandchild. He is a sailor and a reluctant wearer of
lifejackets but we are learning together to find the best match. Teddy brings out the best in Joan and I and
also there is a camaraderie that is very different from being a parent.
Grand parenting is
simply more fun than parenting. I feel
a sense of mischief and have more of a sense of play. We are playing with Teddy as he learns how to
make sense of the world. I am learning with him and see the world afresh. The spoon is a cool drum stick. The floor is not just a surface to walk on
but a moonscape. It is filled with wonders and items of discovery.
Teddy s first
sailing adventure was to the Urbanna Oyster festival. He was just a few months old. He seems to sleep a lot. His parents are dotting loving and capable
parents. Their dictum is law and
although we have raised five children, what they say about Teddy goes ! They follow more rules and regulations that
we were encumbered with. Or at least my
mind remembers it that way. Our kids
were raised in the caldron of residency and training, and Joan did the lions'
share of childcare. So Teddy is allowed
only formula and he is sticking to a strict food agenda outlined by his
pediatrician. He is allowed only
bottled water for now and he is growing and thriving.
Teddy's sailing trip started on a beautiful fall
day in November. Copper, Teddy's'
irascible beagle, made himself perfectly at home on Enchantress. He bounded
corner to corner and left his fragments of fur behind. When I encounter them, weeks, months later,
they are little love notes left to chronicle a good time.
Waverly and Copper are good companions and they are no longer the prime objects of mite
affections. Teddy settles into his car
seat, and Enchantress leaves the docks
for a short trip upriver to Urbanna.
The winds are gentle and to the Northeast but build rather abruptly as
we leave Broad Creek. The river waves
are sharp and Enchantress shoulders them with a soft shudder. We are close hauling up river as the winds
build. Enchantress heels onto her
chine and grooves in. The day is
exhilarating in its freshness. There is
a briskness to the fall air. Teddy's'
first sail boat ride, Copper's first sailing outing, and our first grandchild
with us on a great adventure ! These are
indelible memories.
As we near
Topping, the great expanse of the Robert
Norris bridge acts as a wind funnel. The winds build to over 25 knots and begin to gust to 30. The water grows white
beards and a humming resonates from the rigging. We are prudent to reef and finally motor
sail. We do not want Teddy's first trip
to develop into a teeth clenching rail to water tacking with the sails
snapping fiasco. Enchantress
gives up her sails and she becomes a motor ship, bobbing toward Urbanna.
We gaze out past
Carter's Creek entrance, and there is a romantic couple on a lovely small
Catalina sailing to Urbana with no jib.
He is standing in the cockpit with the tiller in hand, hair awash with
wind, jaunty leg on the cockpit seat, no autopilot to diffuse his
adventure. His love interest is seated just forward of the cabin entrance. Her gaze is towards her captain and they are
freezing time with this moment, tacking up river, sails out. Enchantress passes them in surrender,
motoring.
Teddy does not seem
to mind that we are motoring and he is a happy baby, smiling and cocooned
against the elements. I think of all the
babies that have gone West or were born to explorers. I think of Virginia Dare. For babies, each
day is a discovery. They just do not
have to pay a college tuition to make the VCU slogan their own.
We see the Lynx, a privateer schooner, visiting Urbanna
for the festival. She is wearing only her bikini sails on this blustery day.
She has some brave souls out with her trained crew and the Urbanna
guests are enjoying the broiling river.
All too soon, the
upriver journey ends and we are docking at Bridge Marina. The owners have just built cool floating
docks and have a new guest house. They
are lovely people and the dock master is efficient and knowledgeable. We come stern to the floating docks and Enchantress lowers her transom to allow easy
egress. Kelly
IV is also visiting and she as a lovely sight to see with her proud
Bertram lines and happy occupants celebrating Fall.
We see the sunset
with friends and friend of friends. Teddy seems to take it all in with a
twinkle in his eye. His world is his
parents and Copper and the caregivers around him. He feels what we feel. He can tell when we are happy and sad. His smile is infectious. Teddy lives moment to moment with the eternity
of the future compressed in the present.
He has minimal worries and has a short memory. Or at least, I think he does. The windy passage is now but a few
neurotransmitter molecules in his hippocampus.
He is looking towards the future.
Our children are our
greatest treasures, and grand parenting
is the icing on the cake. Until Teddy
was born and gazed his countenance upon us, I could not have even guessed at
this sweet joy. Sailing with Teddy and
Mark and Abbie and Copper hopefully will be like driving to the local food
market. Commonplace but so important for
the sustenance of our minds and bodies. This memory and hope I hold onto in these troubling times.
Teddy's eyes implore
us to make each day fresh and important and joyful. Attend to those body needs but come back to
laughter and kindness. There is fun and
learning even in the most mundane of tasks.
We do not need to sail to understand this lesson. We just have to open our eyes and our
hearts.
