I’ve been looking around for some blog ideas and came across a 30 day writing challenge. Words or phrases are given and the writer must come up with something. We will see how this works and how the audience feels. My phrase for the day is “Lost at Sea”. This is a work of fiction.
I’ll never forget the first day I went fishing with my grandfather on his boat. I was seven or eight. He had a secret fishing spot he had been using for years and I was now old enough to join him on the boat. We started early that morning because the fish bite best early. “C’mon Grandpa! Let’s go!”, I yelled. Our boat was in the water and I was ready to get to fishing. “Hang on a minute, Sam. Let’s be sure your life jacket is secure”, Grandpa said.
He started the engine and we puttered out to the middle of the lake. I had never been in water that large. The lake seemed enormous to me. I made the comment “I hope we don’t get lost at sea.” Grandpa laughed and with a smile said ‘I’ve been captain of this ship for many years and I’ve always managed to find my way back home.” He reached in his overalls top pocket and pulled out a well-worn compass. He explained to me how it worked and kept him in the right direction on the treacherous waters.
That became our special inside joke being ‘lost at sea’. I fished with my Grandpa for many years and every time we hit the water I would say “I hope we don’t get lost at sea”. We would always laugh about it.
When my son Jake was old enough Grandpa and I took him on the boat and I said our favorite joke. Jake’s eyes got large as he looked around the lake. I could see that he was getting worried, but assured him that Grandpa was a great navigator.
Grandpa passed away last week and today I went to the reading of the will. One of the items left to me in the will was Grandpa’s fishing boat. I was also presented with a box. I’m sitting on my bed. My head is hurting from crying. My wife has given me some time alone so I can open the box.
I open the weathered box and in the box are the keys to the fishing boat. They have a buoy keychain on them. I turn the keychain over in my hands and marvel how I never saw him drop them in the lake. I put the keys back in the box and pick up a map. It is a map of our favorite fishing lake with all of the best fishing spots circled in red. I place the map on the bed and pick up an envelope and a jewelry box.
I open the envelope and it is a handwritten note from my Grandpa. To Sam, My first officer, May the fish always bite and may you never get lost at sea. I open the jewelry box and it is Grandpa’s compass.
