Heartstrings - How Far Can They Stretch?

I met Janie when we lived in New Castle, Delaware - at a Newcomers Club meeting in the 1990's. The group was touring one of the DuPont estates and there was "just something" that made me think….."Ahhh….I really like this woman and want to get to know her better."

And here we are some 20+ years later and that little "inner nudge" proved to be so very correct. We said, after beginning to explore our burgeoning friendship, that we "must have been sisters in another life". So many similarities, so much laughter, so much to talk about, so many almost-the-same memories…..yet so many interesting differences.

It was Janie and her husband, Phil, who are really responsible for the fact that we ever bought our first sailboat, and then traded up to the one we would live on for two years. It's their "fault" that we got crazy/brave enough to sell our house and most of our stuff and just take off on a two year adventure. (Their adventure was much bigger than ours - a circumnavigation of the globe that took over 15 years!) We met them and spent time on their sailboat, 'Tsolo, in the Exumas, the Virgin Islands and later sailed from Bonaire to Curacao for one short leg of their journey. They taught us to play dominoes in the cockpit, quietly rocking at anchor. Janie shared t-shirts with me when, on one trip, we met them at the boat and my suitcase spent that week in Pittsburgh.

When they were back in the States their home base was the Seattle area - so we'd try to connect while visiting our son and his family. Conversations picked right up where we left off - and my heart sister and I would laugh, hug, talk, weep…..just be together again for a little while.

Today we met them at the airport - they'd taken their last sail aboard 'Tsolo, bringing her from the Caribbean back to Annapolis where she is now for sale. This morning they flew in from Baltimore, making a quick stop-over in Milwaukee - time for coffee/hug/quick conversation.

It will have to be enough for awhile - their next adventure is the move they've made to Kenai, Alaska. Purchasing land. Building a new house. Moving even farther away.

I am so thankful I met Janie….she will always have a special place in my heart/memory/future. We may not see each other anywhere nearly as often as I would like….but she's out there. A phone call away. An email away. A FaceTime away…..too far away.

But our heartstrings can stretch…..watch them…..Wisconsin to Alaska. No problem.