Love Odyssey

Today we are on day six of our seven day Love Odyssey. At 5:30 this morning we met our couple and took them to a remote beach in the dinghy. Each partner was given the opportunity to vent their resentments for 30 minutes while the other one had to sit quietly and listen. Then we dug a hole and they burned the resentments. Bryce officiated at a resentment ceremony (similar to a wedding ceremony) followed by champagne.  For me this is the most fitting and emotional ending to a journey of love and re-commitment to a relationship.  I always feel very emotional after this and in my mind this is not only a re-commitment for our Odyssey couple, but also a personal commitment for Bryce and I to continue our own journey to help others and to grow ourselves.

Helen– 06/17/11

Yesterday and today have been cleaning days in preparation for our first Love Odyssey of the year. We steam cleaned the carpets, shampooed all the pillows and cushions and even cleaned out the scuppers. We also shopped and provisioned the boat for a week of sailing. Bryce and I are both very excited about the coming trip. We look forward to helping another couple look hard at their relationship and find out ways to re-establish the bond. What you probably don’t know is that when we work with couples, we too, are also strengthening our own bond with each other. So with each couple that we help, Bryce and I learn more about each other and feel even more connection.

Helen   06/04/11

We are at anchor in Taylor’s Creek in Beaufort. We came here yesterday morning on a whim. Sometimes you just need a change of scenery and routine. We are anticipating the beginning of a long winter when we have to stay in dock, so we thought this might be one of our last trips of the season.

It is beautiful here. There are lots of boats anchored out in anticipation of heading south to the islands. Most cruisers leave late November at the end of hurricane season. Yesterday we were mistaken for cruisers by many of the local shopkeepers–until Bryce bought a heavy winter jacket that was on sale–no, you certainly won’t need that in the islands!

We also had fun showing off our new baby! Everywhere we went both women and men wanted to see and hold our little angel, Suzie-Q. She is so tiny and so cute learning how to walk on a leash–a ferret harness and leash, since we couldn’t find a dog set that was small enough for her.

Today looks like it will be warmer than yesterday, so we are planning to take a dinghy ride down to the end of Taylor’s Creek. With our first two sailboats we could do this because they only drew 2-3 feet, but this one would surely get stuck–but the dinghy can go anywhere! I want to see how much the area has grown with houses since last we were there–and of course, we want to watch the ferral horses on Bird Shoal and Carrot Islands. Sounds like a good plan for a pretty day!

Helen–11/20/10

I haven’t felt this way in a long time. It’s amazing how the heart can heal so quickly. Last week we were devasted  when we heard that Mitzie-Sue, our 14 year old Yorkie, had a brain tumor and kidney failure. She was such a big part of our lives and it tore us up when we had her euthanized last Sunday morning. But then we got Suzy-Q.

Suzy was timid and clingy the first few days as she got to know us. But through this first week her little personality has gradually emerged. She loves to play, especially to attack and shake her stuffed toys, and to retrieve tiny colored tennis balls. She enjoys closeness and wants to sleep at night as close to my chest as possible. And all the while she is attaching herself deep into my heart, filling the space where Mitzie lived for many years. Yes, I am still mourning her passing and I continue to cry when I see her pink leash or recall a memory. But the pain is less each day as Suzy does her puppy magic on my heart. I am falling in-love once more.

Helen 11/13/10

The past three weeks have been very hard on me. Mitzie-Sue, our fourteen year old Yorkie, has been having serious health issues. It began one day about a month ago when I watched her stumble here on the dock. At first I didn’t think much of it, but then I began to notice her stumbling more and more each day. It was like one of her back legs gave out and the lower half of her body would briefly hit the ground and then she would immediately get up and walk fine. After a week of this I took her to the vet and he agreed it was probably arthritis and gave her a prednisone shot. In the days that followed she was like a younger dog and enjoyed her short walks. Then two weeks ago when we sailed to Ocracoke she started a new drug and had a bad reaction that tore up her belly. She dehydrated and began falling a lot. Another trip to the vet revealed that she had kidney failure (apparently pretty common in older dogs). She acted like she was in pain and seemed pretty sick. We treated the dehydration for the past week and she gradually got a bit better, but we had a hard time getting her to drink water or eat. Two days ago I saw what looked like a pinched nerve in her back–she couldn’t get up for 15 minutes because her back seemed to be in spasm. So yesterday we went back to the vet and he gave us two types of drugs, more prednisone and a muscle relaxant. Within 20 minutes of taking those drugs she had two grand mal seizures. I rushed her back to the vet and they gave her fluids and said that seizures are not unusual in dogs with kidney failure. Of course, that doesn’t explain why she had seizures after taking these pills. So now I am hesitant to give her any more. But my emotional pain stems from the anticipated loss of another dog in the course of less than a year. I feel like I am watching her slowly die before my eyes. We give so much love to our pets and they give us so much more in return. It seems unfair that they have such short lives. I guess Bryce would say that our pets lives teach us about mortality and how short a dance this is for all of us.

Helen –10/22/10

This past weekend was perfect–spectacular even! Not too hot; not too cold; just right. We left early Friday morning for Ocracoke under blue, cloudless skies. The wind was from the north, but at 10-15 knots it was comfortable in our boat. We arrived about 2:30 and found a place at the Park Service docks. The next two days we strolled the lanes in the village just for fun–no agenda. Yesterday was also true to form–we left by 7:00 a.m. under blue skies and no wind at all. The sound was like a millpond. Of course we had to use our engine, but if most sailors are honest, we use our engines the majority of the time. So the sails stayed furled this weekend, but a good–perfect–weekend was had by all.

Helen– 10/11/10

As a sailboater, we either love the wind or hate it; it’s hard to feel neutral about something as important as the wind. It is the element that either propels your boat or keeps it at the dock. We have either too much wind or not enough. Sometimes you are lucky and have just enough–the perfect amount. Today we have an overabundance of wind, not that we were hankering to go sailing. It is just that the coast had a lot of rain in the past week and now the wind is roaring out of the north. In the town of Oriental that means that streets are flooding and impassable to cars and folks on foot. Here at the marina the water is close to the top of the docks. I can hear the wind howling through the rigging of all the sailboats–a very eerie noise. We are cozy in our boat; I have ribs cooking in the crock pot in the galley while Bryce hangs a fishing line off the stern of the boat–he even got a 22″ drum for tomorrow’s lunch.

Helen  –  10/02/10

This is the time of year when fishin’ fever bites Bryce.  A few years back he caught a 46 pound drum off a pier in Lou Mac Park here in Oriental.  So his expectation is high to get the equivalent fish again.  However, that drum was too big to keep—a breeder—so he had to release it after taking its photo as proof that he really caught it.  Yesterday morning Bryce got three flounders—enough to feed four people for dinner last night.  This morning he was not so lucky—a few hits but no keepers.  I guess we will have pasta for dinner tonight.  The big question now is whether Bryce is going to try again tomorrow morning.  I’ll keep you in the loop….

 Helen  09/25/10

Sometimes it is nice just to hang out and do nothing. This was one of those weekends. Bryce and I have been pretty depleted the past few weeks with work in Cary, family problems and hurricane preparations down here (see my last three blog entries). Therefore this weekend we needed to recharge our batteries and what better way than with close friends. Yesterday morning Bryce went fishing with a good buddy, then we went to the Bean coffee house for some java and small talk. Last night we had good friends over for dinner and a Netflick. Today I just cleaned the boat’s interior and straightened out our ever-growing collection of books (that I plan to read someday). Yes, just hanging out with friends is sometimes exactly what we need.

Helen –09/12/10

Hurricane Earl has come and gone. He brought winds of less than 30 miles an hour and a little rain. We are relieved that he left no destruction in his path here in Oriental. Today is just another gray, rainy day. But I have to admit that I feel a bit of disappointment because of all the time it took to prepare the boat and dock for a hurricane. I guess later today when the rain stops we will begin the task of putting the boat back together—erect the dodger over the companionway, put on the windshield and hatch covers, cover the teak rails, move the dinghy back on the davits with its outboard engine in place, and untie a lot of extra lines holding the boat to the dock. I just hope that this is the last hurricane of the season for NC—because I don’t relish doing this all over again!

Helen –09/03/10