A day in the life of Karen and Jordan

The wind was blowing through her blonde hair as she sat at the front of the 51-foot sailboat. The sun was shining, and the warm wind was blowing a gentle 12 knots from the beam. The boat was healed over at a comfortable angle. The jungle south shore of Samana Bay could be seen through the clear air in the distance. She felt the power of the sails pull the beautiful sailboat through the small waves as she hugged her 7 year old. She glanced around the boat. She could see her other two children pretending to steer the boat under the watchful eye of her loving husband, Jordan. She could see her 82 year old mother see smiling, sitting comfortably in the cockpit. It felt great to be on the water.

One afternoon as I was scrolling through Facebook, I saw a post by Karen Devon. She was on holidays in Los Terrenos in the Dominican Republic 28 kilometers from where I was docked in Puerto Bahia on my sailboat. I messaged her saying that if she found herself near Samana, she should drop by my boat for a drink with her family.

I have known Karen for about 15 years. She was a resident at University of Toronto general surgery and she had done a locum at my hospital, Humber river hospital many years ago. She is now working at women’s College Hospital as an endocrine surgeon. I didn’t really get a chance to know her that well, but I knew that she had three children and was married to Jordan, a genetics consultant at Mt. Sinai Hospital. Karen replied, “Can you? Would you take us for a sail?”

I replied, “For sure.” I had checked my calendar and realized I did not have anything scheduled for at least two weeks. In fact, my calender was totally empty…… I had sailed to the Dominican Republic from Antigua about three weeks ago. It took about three days and I had two experienced sailors help me.They had long since gone back to Canada. I was waiting for my wife, Ileana to arrive on Saturday. I had nothing but time on my hands…..

We arranged to meet at 9:00 AM. They had rented a car specifically to drive the 28 kilometres and it took about an hour on the crazy Dominican Republic roads. There are many motorcycles with no one wearing helmets. Sometimes motorcycles have three passengers crammed on the narrow seat and they drive at great speeds. I had warned Karen this sometimes it is a little bit too windy but as luck would have it, the day was perfect. The winds were mild at 10-12 knots, and the seas were calm. The adventurers were keen to get on the water.

Jordan and Karen helped push the boat off the dock by untying the dock lines. We motored out into the harbor and once on the open ocean, I raised the mainsail. I eased the boat so that it would catch the wind and unfurled the jib. I could feel the wind fill the sails and sailboat gracefully pulled along the water. There was a gentle heel as the wind caught the perfectly trimmed sails. It was a beautiful morning and I was grateful that Karen and her family had come so I had a good reason to be on the water. I miss the joy of sailing sometimes when I am on the dock. I look forward to any opportunity to get on the water, so it was great to have Karen and her family on board. Karen would take her kids one at a time to the front of the boat so they could feel the breeze and graceful movements of the sailboat, and experience first hand the joy of being on the water.

After awhile, it was time to head back to the Marina. I put the boat into the wind and drop the mainsail. I then furled the jib and started the engine. We gracefully slid back into our dock at the Marina. Karen’s children were keen to go swimming, and as adults, we were keen to go for lunch. Fortunately, the restaurant is right in front of the swimming pool. We started with coconut drinks.

The restaurant had some amazing choices. Karen took her time and chose the best. During the afternoon, Karen explained to me food was a very important part of her life. Her father had recently died at the age of 92 years old. She was telling me that her father said that there is nothing in his life he would have changed. All through his life, he felt a tremendous amount of gratitude from the love and happiness of family. He felt blessed to have had such a wonderful and productive life. He was a Holocaust survivor. He spent 2.5 years in a hole in the ground with his uncle during the Holocaust, the other 14 grandchildren including the rest of the family, all killed. He arrived in Canada as an orphan, worked to build his family. He was grateful to have had the chance. During that time he was in the hole in the ground, he would dream of having a loaf of bread to himself. When that time came and he was able to eat, he was grateful. Since that time, he was grateful every time he ate. His gratitude and positive outlook on life has been transferred to Karen. It was special for me to be surrounded with such gratitude.

After lunch, the kids wanted to go in the dinghy. They were quite the adventurers. I took them around the Marina because it was quite calm but as one might expect this was not really enough for them. They wanted to get out in the water where there were big waves. I aimed the dinghy into the open ocean. We were going against the wind and the waves were splashing into the dinghy. They loved this. “Is that the jungle over there?” asked Sybil. “We want to go and explore the jungle.”

I pulled the dinghy onto a beach. We headed up the rickety stairs into the jungle. They were really looking for some wild animals but the closest we came to that were a few grazing cows. We couldn’t get too far because we didn’t have the proper shoes, in fact Jordan was barefoot. We headed back to the dinghy and to the sailboat to Karen and her mother.

Back on the boat, one of the kids had the great idea of playing hide and seek. I was pretty confident this was safe because I know this boat inside out. There’s nowhere they can hide where I can’t find them. I was wrong. They were really good at this game. I’m not sure what Karen and Jordan do at home when they can’t find them but there was one point where I panicked. I’m sure Karen and Jordan felt this was a safe game compared to what they had been doing all day such as sailing, going in the jungle, but I could not find Seymour, the 4 year old…… until he moved. He was hidden under the cushions. Whew…..

After the day was over, Karen and her family left to head back to Los Terrenos. I walked back to the pool area to watch the sunset. I reflected on the great day I had. I reflected on how grateful I am to be able to be here in the Caribbean on my beautiful sailboat. I too have had a great life. I reminded myself there are so many things in life for which to be grateful and one must live life to the fullest. Karen was right, it truly was a great day to be on the water.