I am glad to report that I finished the 3 rd annual Memorial Day, “Hike (from Rosario
Beach dock to Bowman Bay and out to Lighthouse Point and back, 3.3 miles), Swim
(from the dock to the beach), and Swig (a shot of boat rum, from the same bottle for all three years).
This was preceded by a single-handed boat trip to Rosario Beach (20 minutes each way
– my wife was with me, but she had her hands full with puppy duty), and ended with my backing the boat into into the slip.
This event, the 3 rd one in a row that I’ve completed, is dedicated to the memory of
Charlie Turner and Tom Costen, the crew of Jakal 404, shot down on the second night
of Operation Desert Storm.
But I also do this event because it gives me an opportunity to reflect on how fortunate I
am to be alive and to feel all life’s sensations, including pain and fear (and I felt plenty of
each this year). This year was undoubtedly the most difficult and dangerous so far, truly
worthy of making it to year 20 since my Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.
I relearned how the next step is all that matters, how to be productively afraid, as
balance issues contributed to several near falls, only saved by trekking poles, and how
to accept help from others (after the swim into a near half-knot current from a back
eddy, I promptly fell going up the narrow sand path leading to the dock, right in front of a
couple who offered to go up behind me on the second attempt). It was a great day.
This was also a fundraiser for either the veterans charity of your choice or the Pacific
Northwest Naval Air Museum (PNWNAM).
Cheer,
Peter