We visit Josephine

Today we visited my long-time friend, Josephine, in her wonderful home in Poole on the southern coast of England. I met Josephine over 34 years ago when I spent some months on the island of Malta, her homeland, while our boat, the MAR, was in port for the winter. Though fate decreed that our paths would cross only briefly all those years ago, she has always held a special spot in my heart. She was 19 then.

Today she's raised four children, three lovely girls and a boy, now serving with the Royal Marines.

This morning, Josephine took us on a long stroll around her town to see the picturesque harbor and marina areas, after which we retreated to her sunny kitchen and sipped tea and munched sweat rolls for the afternoon, all the while reliving tales of the "old days." Then, this evening, while keeping up
a lively conversation with Concetta and me, Josephine managed to whip up a fantastic lasagna that would have won a prize in the best Italian (or Maltese) kitchen. The top pix is of Josephine's home in Poole, which she is currently remodeling, more or less, by herself. The second pix is Jo with the box of candy my shipmate requested I bring her. The last pix is of Jo and two of her three daughters, Elizabeth (left) and Stephanie (right).

Not many people know that if it wasn't for Josephine, Concetta and I might not have met. After living aboard the yacht MAR for a year, my shipmate, John, and I had decided that we had had enough of life at sea. But it was initially John whom we agreed would leave first and I would wait until the captain hired someone to fill John's spot before I left to come home. John, at this point, had known Josephine only briefly before we set sail on our summer cruise in 1974. But when the cruise was over and John and Josephine were re-united, he changed his mind and told me that he would stay on board longer and I might go ahead and leave. This I did in early August 1974. By August 15th of '74 I had started a new job in Carson City, and by the end of that fateful month of August I had met Concetta. So, you see, if I had stayed longer on the boat and John had come home first Concetta and I might never have met in that laundromat all those years ago.

Isn't fate a wonderful thing.

Ciao, tutti.