In Spite Of It All

By Maryanna Gabriel

It took me ever so long to understand how I was going to transport my beloved kayak after painful negotiation with mechanics regarding truck springs for the camper weight and solenoid batteries for recharging the battery and goodness knows what else. I had a

Customized Holder For My Beloved Kayak 

customized kayak holder made as I was travelling alone and wanted very much to be able to offload the 44 pound kayak without assistance. I was starting to feel ready. It was a time rather long ago now but when I was very much more spritely and considerably less wise, that I embarked on the journey. Why, in fact, it was immediately after 9/11 (when America was still the land of the free...). I had been hesitating considerably as I am wont to do on a big trip and for some reason I was delaying. When 9/11 happened it was immediately clear as to why I was hovering. Suddenly the scheme seemed dubious and I hesitated even more until I realized that if I was really going to do this, now was it. I had a lovely camper, I had the time, I had the funds, and incredibly the nod for time off from my work as an assistant to a busy realtor. All signs were fortuitous. I was kind of hoping I would not be spirited away by terrorists in the process and so I set out amid much shaking of heads. The Twin Towers being bombed was kind of a serious worry. Was America going to war? My daughter said to me, "Mom, honk twice before you back up and never talk politics." I replied, "Hmmmmm." The season was getting late. I caught the ferry to the mainland somewhat riddled with a gnawing anxiety. I was too young to die surely.