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This weekend’s boat trip to Mattawoman Creek reminded me of this lovely CSNY song. Loved hearing stories about the river, spotting two bald eagles and waking up to a cool spring breeze.
The Lee Shore
by David Crosby
from the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album “4 Way Street”
Wheel gull spin and glide … you’ve got no place to hide
‘Cause you don’t need one
All along the Lee shore
Shells lie scattered in the sand
Winking up like shining eyes, at me
From the sea
Here is one like sunrise
It’s older than you know
It’s still lying there where some careless wave
Forgot it long ago
When I awoke this morning
I dove beneath my floating home
Down below her graceful side in the turning tide
To watch the sea fish roam
There I heard a story
From the sailors of the Sandra Marie
There’s another island a day’s run away from here
And it’s empty and free
From here to Venezuela
There’s nothing more to see
Than a hundred thousand islands
flung like jewels upon the sea
For you and me
Sunset smells of dinner
Women are calling at me to end my tales
But perhaps I’ll see you, the next quiet place
I furl my sails
Last night Husband and I decided to spend the night on our boat. We were expecting lows in the 40s, and perhaps a bit of wind, but we were willing to rough it. We ordered pizza from a little hole in the wall place that is quickly becoming a favorite, picked up a board game and ‘Pirate Radio.’
The highlight of the night was our textbook game of Sorry. We opened the brand new box and reread the directions. I admired the adorable little Sorry pieces. So shiny. Such vibrant colors.
Sorry seems as though it might go on for days at the onset of game play. You get so close to making it “home” and then all of a sudden — SORRY. Back to the beginning. Actually, Sorry sounds like quite a metaphor for life. Sometimes you catch a break, sometimes you’re sent back to start. To rethink and try your luck again, but no matter what, you’re always trying to reach your Safety Zone and to return home.
Finally, Husband and I were about to wrap up the game and found ourselves in a fast-paced, card flipping, shiny pawn moving race! Both of our pieces arrived in the Safety Zone and we both teetered on the last space before Home. 
We kept turning card after card for a few rounds. Back and forth. Easily amused of not, it was such an unpredictable and exciting game — almost TOO unpredictable and exciting for a simple game of Sorry. Suddenly, I turned over the winning card, and joyfully moved my piece into Home.
Husband and I are starting our summer early. We bought a boat last fall and this is the first weekend we’ve really taken it out. There is a lot to learn. How to dock the boat. How to drive the boat. How to use the anchor. How to maneuver with other boats out on the water. How to EVERYTHING.
We spent today getting the boat ready for the season, and set out around noon. My favorite part of the afternoon was taking a break in Belmont Bay with a gorgeous view of the mini beaches along Mason Neck State Park.
We anchored and enjoyed the sun, listened to music, excited to be on the water on such a gorgeous day. When we pulled up the anchor, I shrieked in delight as a cute brown snail decided to snuggle up to our boat. I decided then and there 
that “if a snail attaches itself to your anchor while you’re out on the water, it is a sign of good luck.” Why not?
From the internet: “The shape of the snail’s shell associated it with the symbolism of the spiral, the whirlwind, the labyrinth, coiled snakes, winding paths, the orbits of heavenly bodies, the ram’s horn, and underground caverns. Spirals are symbols of continuity, evolution, devolution, involution, expansion, contraction, cycles, mysteries, and changes which are the natural result of all that has gone before. Beneficial spirals twirl to the right while destructive ones twirl to the left. Treasures, the self, wisdom, or Minotaurs, other beasts, and nightmares lie at the center of spirals.”
The snail definitely made my day, and the boating was insanely wonderful, too.
