CHRISTENING

It’s the 4th of July, 2000 as I sit on the deck of Marlow with my Mom aside Eliza playing with plans for our house in the city, Dad cleaning up and baby Anna fast asleep. We’re in Valley Cove across from some Gatsbyesque mansions in Sommes Sound awaiting the start of the fireworks.

We’ve been on Marlow since the 30th of June after a christening ceremony in which we read some favorite passages from “Youth” and “Heart of Darkness”. Though we await fireworks tonight, they will be anticlimactic after the duel fireworks show Eliza and I experienced impromptu on the 1st, sitting on deck anchored off Moose Island; fireworks appeared in the far off sky over a distant hill in one direction and across the bay in the other. It marked a first perfectly happy moment aboard Marlow in what I hope turns out to be a long life of family highs out away from the complexities of our daily grind in NY, amidst the smiling seals and wayward winds…..