It's 11:56 pm on January 5th, 2012. This time last year my life was about to change dramatically.
You won't believe how my day started today. At 6:00 am I was awoken by sirens from fire trucks, ambulances and police - very close, too close. I pulled the covers over my head and wondered who would play such a cruel joke, or maybe it was just a bad dream. I stayed like that for 45 minutes until curiosity got the better of me. I crawled out of the boat and realized the action was at the next marina, the government docks. I walked over to see what was going on and as I looked down at the flashing lights it was a bit surreal. It was like looking at the scene last year, except that last year I was right in the middle of it. It turns out that there was a fire on a tug boat. I don't know any other details but hopefully no one was injured. Does this happen every year in Ladysmith? If so - I am definitely out of here.
This evening friends from the marina stopped by. We managed to squeeze 8 of us on Andiamo. It seemed a fitting evening to open the bottle of champagne that was sent from France from Jean-Luc's parents. It was lovely that all these people came to support me tonight but also to honour Jean-Luc who none of them had ever met. I had carefully poured the champagne so that there was a glass remaining. After they left, I took some of Jean-Luc's ashes and the glass of champagne to the spot where Andiamo was last year. It is a beautiful, tranquil night. I poured Jean-Luc's ashes into the water, took a sip of the champagne and then poured the rest in after him.
Thank you to everyone who emailed and said they were raising their glass to Jean-Luc tonight. It means a lot to me to know that there are so many people who love him as much as I do.
I wasn't sure how I would feel today. I'm okay, sad but okay. I don't want to go to sleep though until after 3:16 am, the time noted on the death certificate. I know it's a bit weird but it doesn't seem right to go to sleep. The Beach Boys song keeps running through my head - "sail on, sail on, sailor". I love you my sailor.....
You won't believe how my day started today. At 6:00 am I was awoken by sirens from fire trucks, ambulances and police - very close, too close. I pulled the covers over my head and wondered who would play such a cruel joke, or maybe it was just a bad dream. I stayed like that for 45 minutes until curiosity got the better of me. I crawled out of the boat and realized the action was at the next marina, the government docks. I walked over to see what was going on and as I looked down at the flashing lights it was a bit surreal. It was like looking at the scene last year, except that last year I was right in the middle of it. It turns out that there was a fire on a tug boat. I don't know any other details but hopefully no one was injured. Does this happen every year in Ladysmith? If so - I am definitely out of here.
This evening friends from the marina stopped by. We managed to squeeze 8 of us on Andiamo. It seemed a fitting evening to open the bottle of champagne that was sent from France from Jean-Luc's parents. It was lovely that all these people came to support me tonight but also to honour Jean-Luc who none of them had ever met. I had carefully poured the champagne so that there was a glass remaining. After they left, I took some of Jean-Luc's ashes and the glass of champagne to the spot where Andiamo was last year. It is a beautiful, tranquil night. I poured Jean-Luc's ashes into the water, took a sip of the champagne and then poured the rest in after him.
Thank you to everyone who emailed and said they were raising their glass to Jean-Luc tonight. It means a lot to me to know that there are so many people who love him as much as I do.
I wasn't sure how I would feel today. I'm okay, sad but okay. I don't want to go to sleep though until after 3:16 am, the time noted on the death certificate. I know it's a bit weird but it doesn't seem right to go to sleep. The Beach Boys song keeps running through my head - "sail on, sail on, sailor". I love you my sailor.....