Ok, I'll start here.......Barnegat Bay, N.J., Rocknack's Marina on a Catalina 27 called "Avanti", around 1974.
There was no better childhood memory than sailing around Barnegat Bay on the weekends. Anchoring in coves, rowing ashore, having bondfires and clambakes while watching fireflies dance through the thick night air. Messing about with prehistoric horseshoe crabs and being in the ocean all day long. The smell of breakfast wafting through the cabin, and the limitless places on the earth it felt we could go. I would crawl into every nook and compartment on that 27 foot boat, and it felt like I was stowing away on a massive tall rigger. I would get to steer, and guide her down the channel to open water, where no place was out of reach. Even when we stayed at the dock, the boat junkyard provided hours of adventure while I climbed aboard every type of boat imagineable. I would sail the world in my mind, while being at the wheel of whatever delapidated hull I could get on. I would row with other kids throughout the marina, and crab till our buckets were full. These memories have always brought a smile and almost always the sounds and smells of life by or on the sea.
My first stepfather, Al Sacco, introduced me to sailing, which would become a lifelong love affair with boats, the sea, exploration, and adventure that would always keep me expanding my horizons in every aspect of my life to this day.
I am so very thankful to this man, because to this day, he has had such a profound positive impact on my life and the man I've become, and until recently, hadn't even known it. I had not seen or heard from him in 30 years, and have been writing him letters for the last 20, but was always too scared to send them for fear of being rejected. Well, last spring I figured I'd write a heartfelt thank you letter, and if nothing else, he'd know how I felt and what an impact he's had. The words spilled from my soul trying to express how much he had meant to me and where his impact had carried me through some not so easy times in my life, and after several pages, I decided to get it in an envelope and mail it to the address I still had memorized before I could chicken out! ( Some years back, while visiting the east coast with my girlfriend, I had taken her by the farm we lived, and just as I pulled over and reminisced, to my horror, he passed me and drove down the driveway with his family, leaving me mortified that he would think I was stalking him or something!) He hadn't bothered to get in touch with me, so I just assumed he would rather forget about me, but this letter would at least let him know how thankful I was.
Months passed, I had the best sailing summer I have had in years, and I never heard anything back! Even though, I had tried to prepare myself for the possibilty that he wouldn't care, every week it weighed on me. I got to October, and finally I just said f**k it, I'll call his office and see if he had an email address I could write to see if he received the letter . One way or another I'd know for sure, and I could move on. I called him at the same office he had back then, a woman answered, and when I asked about an e-mail address, she promptly replied "honey, I'm lucky he even has a computer here in the office!". Reluctantly, I told her I was an old friend, and if I could leave a contact number for him to call me back at, I just wanted to see if he received something I had sent. I gave her my cell and when I started to spell my name she started screaming my name and saying "oh my God, Stephen, is it really you?" Much to my complete surprise, the woman on the phone was Dot, the same front office girl that was there 30 years ago!! Before I could say anything, (i was pretty much frozen in shock!) I heard "oh my God, let me get him" and she dropped the phone. The next 30 seconds took a lifetime. The same voice I had remembered, with some added decades of wear, asked in astonishment, "Stephen, is that really you?". When I found my voice, I crackled out, " Hi Al, I just wanted to follow up with you and make sure you got my thank you letter". He proceeded to tell me that he never received my letter, and that he had sold the farm a couple years back. A million pounds lifted from heart as we settled into a 45 minute conversation of quick catch up about the last 30 years! He's a dentist, and fortunately for the person waiting in the chair for the last 45 minutes, we wrapped up, and vowed to keep in touch. I got a really nice Christmas letter from him and look forward to getting him out for a sail someday soon!
