No I have not found the cure for all communicable diseases or anything even close,I had a deep thought.Understandably this gave me the worlds biggest headache since my operating system,brain,is sometimes referred to as "puny".Never fear I wrote down my deep thought and because I'm a true American it had to do with money,my future and how I ended up here.So let's play a quick game of catch up if you will so everyone is up to speed.The Gulf Oil Disaster,or whatever name you wish to give it,has been keeping the majority of American Merchant Marines busy for the last few months,me included.We have been working with dredge companies,hauling sand and mud offshore to then be pumped inland to create barrier islands to keep the oil off of and away from extremely fragile marshes.I hope you followed that because there will not be a review.Seriously when time permits I will spend time posting pictures and articles detailing the craziness we have endured the last few months in the bayou.I would like to take the time after the job is completed,3 months to five years from now,to remind everyone of exactly what happened down here.A few weeks ago before returning to work I finally moved out of the city and into my firat house.The first few days in that house were the most relaxing days I have literally had in years.I will detail this at some point as well.I did get the opportunity to go out for a September goose hunt with my brother,the nutty professor and a friend of mine.We shot poorly and ended up with one goose,which is better than none.I really don't care much for hunting with shorts on and sweating but it is good to have a drill in case anything goes wrong.The water is still warm in case the boat sinks,haha.Well now everyone is caught up and this brings me to the topic at hand,my deep thought.
Let's leave that long winded paragraph behind and wrap our heads around this.Written on the bottom of a bunk on the tug I am on there are quite a few sayings.Really every tug has one bunk or galley table where everyone signs or writes something on.This particular bunk has been on the boat for quite a few years.To sum up the majority of the sayings it consists of an question that one person wrote.it was an open ended question-Why are you here?over the course of 20-25 years people have answered this question.Easy,obvious answers-money,running away from my wife,wife got pregnant,it was this or jail.Some people took the time to write detailed events of how they ended up on that particular tug.the bunk has run out of room to write on many years ago but it really got me thinking,why am I here.was it for the money,it certainly isn't because I'm running from jail I assure you.I couldn't answer that question in a sentence so I thought it over and never found a single concrete reason.The best I could come up with,the Navy wanted a contract?Seriously I still haven't found the answer but every night I lay in that bed and find a new response to the question,I continue to think about my own situation.So ask yourself,don't tell me it's your business,why are you where you are right now?What brought you there?
2 comments:
That's a complicated question, involving (for me) a whole set of very intentional decisions, strategic successes and failures, and the desire to find work that I am talented at (and an environment willing to tolerate my antics).
I took a job in Baltimore because my only other offer was in Atlanta, and that was iffy (and 4 hours from the ocean). And my $ XX,000 in student loans was coming due.
We have tried to move right onto the beach several times (Va Beach, Charleston SC, Rehoboth DE, San Clemente CA) but it has never quite worked out, so here we are still, in Baltimore, 12 years later. 2 hours from the beach. We both have better jobs than we would have anywhere near any beach town, but the "Northeastern Grind" is a motherf***er. For real.
I've been reading for a while, but never commented. I guess this is the post that changes that. Nice question, and definitely a "eureka" type situation. Congrats on the new digs and thanks for a perspective from a place that while seeming so different from my own (rural NC with three kids under five and oh yeah, female and not about to go on a boat for months at a time) not so very different after all.
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