23 January, 2007
Key West
A cool breeze is sweeping the weariness from the corners of my tired ol' ragdoll self. Tomorrow will be my day off and I feel all blunder-fingered at the prospect of a whole lazy day to squander. Today was near perfect. We worked hard but laughed and were easy-going about it. Good sailing. Cool fish. I jumped from the very furthest point of our egotistical bowsprit into the salty water, spitting and spluttering it out and laughing my way back to the Jacobs Ladder. We saw a tiny Portugese Man-of-War but continued to swim. The ocean amazes me. When swimming, I try to pretend that I'm in the Great Lakes with their sweet-tempered fish. That I'm swimming withing a half-mile of sharks, enormous fish and other scary things is too much to think about if I intend to continue to scream and jump with childlike abandon.

I asked Captain Rob if I could have the time to go to church on Sundays. He had not one trite remark or sharp opinion. Instead, he gave me more time than I had even hoped for. Part of me is a little pessimistic, as if things are too good for me. Surely something will bust to pieces and I'll end up worse off than before. I'll not be able to find a church with sincere people in it or will earn the resentment of my crewmates who are shy with asking for more than an occasional dry crust of bread. Good grief LuLu! This God of mine withholds no good thing from his children. Why do I get this Eeyore mentality of joyless dread? Take joy, dear one.