Dreams and bowsprits

Here is a diagram of my bowsprit as it is now. Yes, I used microsoft paint, and it is as good as this computer illiterate gal can get it, my friend TRIED to educate me in the fine art of auto cad (sorry Martin!) but..well see for yourself. It does give you a general idea of what I have to work with. I decided on a single spartan bronze bow roller and shortening the bowsprit to move the load as close to the strong stem of the boat. Also, at the end of this long post is a video OG tour (at the request of my friends at work, I really do live on a boat w/o a TV!). I hope it it will work. **BTW Mom - pay no attention to the messy galley cabinet! I had put the dishes away in a hurry to do the video, it is nice and seaworthy tidy now :).----never mind can't get the video downloaded (sorry girls!!) I will try again latter.

I had a wonderful dream last night. Now I dream every night and usually they are funny and weird, many times I will wake up laughing because my dream struck me as so hysterically outrageous. But this is not one of those dreams, I wouldn't bore you with that. This was one of those "revelation" dreams (which also might be boring to you, but since this is my blog you are the hapless victims who must suffer through it:) )

Anyways, my dream...
I was at the hospital and I was comforting a patient that was having a hard time breathing. He was wearing the regulation hospital gown, sitting hunched over in a wheel chair. I had him hooked up to oxygen and his staturation was good, but he was very anxious and fearful, trying to get more air. I was whispering to him in a low soft voice "everything is ok, take nice slow breathes, you can do it, everything is ok." I was coaxing him to calm his breathing down, trying to give him my strength as I had done many times before. I had my hand on his shoulder when suddenly the patient I was comforting reached up and grasped my hand. He held it firmly and looked at me with such love. In an instant the comforter (me) became the comforted (me!). It was a magical moment, him holding my hand and me drawing strength from it. He didn't say a word just looked at me with such assurance.

I woke up at that moment, and as I stared up through my hatch out into the baby blue morning sky, the boat softy swaying, I enjoyed the beauty of it, floating.. and that beautiful moment of comfort.

I wonder if my patients know how amazing they are, how strong, how brave. I wonder if they even suspected how much I admire their courage, do they realize just how amazing they are? (May sound strange but it is an honor to be allowed a role in their battle. This isn't a new feeling, as a nurse you feel so many strong emotions, I just don't always have the clarity to understand them. Heck, I don't know if any of this makes any sense, but I just wanted to share, those people walking down the halls of the hospital, in gowns open at the back, getting tests and injections, and taking all those damn medications, it is kinda hard to describe someone so strong when they appear at their weakest, but they are mountain climbers in my eyes.

Thank God I have my boat to come home to, such a beautiful life aboard OG…God spoils me rotten. E