Camp scene

From this dock, my Dad will often say, you could sail around the world.

My parents' land is a peninsula, tucked into a protected marsh, full of cattails and turtles and water snakes. The land you see across the bay is an island, and on the other side of that island is the river, deep and cold and clear.

When we want to swim, we usually pile into boats, go out to the river, choose an uninhabited island, and jump right in. But if we didn't stop at an island, if we sailed far enough, we could eventually sail out into the ocean, and all the way around the world.

My Dad's boat is not really big enough for that, of course. It's a seventeen foot wooden boat that he designed and built himself. It's designed for this particular bay, actually, not the open sea. But I think my Dad likes to think that from this dock, anything is possible.