Old Guy Wisdom

So there I was...kicking back at the anchorage in Newport Harbor several years ago on a sailboat named Crosswinds.  She had taken us to many wonderful harbors in the years we had owned her and now she was swinging at anchor in one of the most famous and celebrated among them.  I watched as a very old sailing vessel wandered in and anchored near us with an even older couple of guys.  I felt that they had set their hook a bit too close so I dingied over to them to get acquainted in case we bumped in the night when the boats would swing with the changes of tide and wind direction.  As I approached, their heavy British accent was unmistakable and I led with, "I'll bet you two guys have some great stories to tell."  A big smile came over their faces and they invited me aboard pulling out a bottle of wine at the same time.  They were about 75 years young with grey wind blown hair and weather worn tanned skin.  Growing up in England as childhood friends one of them was now transplanted to the U.S. and they got together for this last hurrah with a trip up the coast to Maine and back before the one sold the boat and moved to Arizona with his wife.  Somewhere in the middle of the second bottle of wine I had an "Aha" moment.  They were saying how Americans don't fully understand the concept of holiday (vacation) and they were right concerning me.  Though given several weeks off from my employer, I had never taken more than one week off in a stretch.  Then they continued to say how we will use our hard earned vacation to work on our houses.  This was insanity to them.   We discussed the days it takes to decompress when starting a vacation and to gear up for going back to work.  By the third bottle of wine it was all making sense to me.  We laughed and told stories as a couple hours went by until Kim called over from our boat asking if I was ever coming back.  That night, about 2 in the morning,  a storm came through powerful enough to knock all the lights out on the massive Newport Bridge and sure enough my new friends boat came up against Crosswinds in the middle of it.  I told them that we would ride it out together but fearing it might injure our boat they pulled anchor, motored off into the dark and I never saw them again.  The following year I took a two week vacation and three weeks the year after that.  Thanks guys, wherever you are, for the great advice and for sharing your wine and wisdom.