Contingency Plans
I’m a thinker. I am always thinking. I think about
- what needs to happen,
- what could happen, and
- what needs to happen as a result of what could happen.
For example, my daughter had six teenagers over the other night. By the pool and with a fire going in the fire pit.
My mind was racing. (She thought it was ridiculous that I refused to go to bed before they left. And, apparently 12:30 on a Monday night is early.)
This line of thinking applies to future retirement spots and the answer to the eternal question of Cape or Lake.
If I had to pick one above the other (which would be painful), I’d pick the Cape. Because there is no boating involved.
Now, I absolutely love being out on the boat. But the Lake terrifies me because of #2 above. We’ve had many close calls, some that we even know about. Fortunately, after all these years, only one close call has resulted in a trip to the emergency room. Other people have not been so lucky. Last Saturday, we drove by a spot off of Governor’s Island where there were multiple divers looking for a body. Earlier that morning, a boat had been seen going around in circles with a dog inside and no driver. The body turned up yesterday. I couldn’t image what had happened.
I am also not at all interested in maintaining or driving a boat. There have been several times when I have been in a disabled boat, drifting aimlessly. And because I’m not interested in driving a boat, I am dependent on my husband. Now, there are a number of scenarios that I have envisioned (but am not planning) that could impact that dependency.
Unfortunately, maintaining a boat is nothing compared to maintaining a house on the ocean. For instance, having to rebuild a sea wall.
So, I bit the bullet and took on one of my many #3s – I got my boating license. (Right now my husband is saying, “She got her boating license?!?”)
In taking the on-line boating course, however, I learned about some additional items that need to be added to #2 above. Including the “Circle of Death”. This is when the boat operator lets go of the steering wheel, and “steering torque forces the motor to slam to the left, causing the boat to swerve sharply to the right and throwing the victim into the water. The boat continues to travel in a circle and returns to strike the victim in the water.”
Lengthening the number of items associated with #2 obviously lengthens the number of items that go with #3. So now I need to check on our set up of the anchor, and I need to make sure we have a whistle and throwable PFD on board. I need to take a look at the expiration date on the fire extinguisher. I will also make sure that everyone has a readily accessible PFD rather than having them stored under the front seats like we usually do.
Finally, I will now need to tell my husband everything he is doing wrong as he is driving.
