My dad and I shared an interest in sailing. When I was a child, he had a sailboat that he would take the family on weekend trips around Cape Cod in the summer. He also did longer sailing trips to Bermuda and once as far as Hawaii on his friend's sailboat. He had a deep appreciation for the beauty of nature and devoting time to having meaningful experiences. He liked to do things that were difficult and challenging. As adults we spent some great bonding time together throughout the process of helping me fix up an old sailboat and taking it on many sailing trips including from Florida to New Orleans, throughout the Bahamas and around the Gulf of Mexico.
This picture was taken off an island in the Sea of Abaco where we went snorkeling and saw sharks, stingrays and sea turtles. We explored the mangroves, walked the beach and finished the day with ‘dark and stormys’ and dinner on the boat. I will always have those memories with my father. This spring, our family sailed out of New Orleans and spread some of his ashes out at sea, where he will always be watching over us.