Dylan died one year ago today - July 1, 2009. He was almost 18 years old! He was the only dog I had as a "grown-up" and he lived with us since he was just old enough to have been taken from his mom and the rest of the litter. Jack's sister, Linda, picked him out for us from a litter in North Carolina. We had researched all sorts of dogs - lots of them seemed like they would be fun in our family. But one special trait caught our eyes - Schipperkes love to be on boats. They were bred to guard barges in Belgium, the place of their origin. Wow - perfect for us! Jack and I met while sailing, actually while windsurfing. We both loved sailing. Our kids grew up with sailboats and on the water. We needed a dog to join us.
So, our friend, Daphne, picked the tiny puppy up from Linda, boarded a plane and flew to Boca Raton, Florida in February. She brought us a 3-month old little bundle of black, fluffy fur - whom we named - Dylan.
Dylan is Welsh meaning: Son of the Wave, Born near the Sea, Spirit of the Sea. Famous bearers of the name: Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and American folk singer Bob Dylan. People would ask us if we had named him after the poet or the folk singer. We'd say, "Nope, we named him after the Sea." We didn't know if he liked the sea or sailing, but we were willing to take a chance on him and see if Schipperkes' heritage really played out.
Dylan was only five months old when he met the Sun Dolphin. This wasn't her name yet. I don't recall what her name actually was. Jack and I had also done beau coup research on multihull sailboats - catamarans and trimarans - because we were going to purchase one so that Jack could begin a charter sailboat cruise enterprise in south Florida. We looked at so many sailboats until we found the right one: a 25 foot Jim Brown Searunner!
We had to pick the sailboat up on a lake near Orlando and sail the boat up the St. John's River which actually flows north(!) because of the terrain of inland-central Florida. Jack, Daniel, puppy-Dylan and I went to embark on this great adventure. Matt was away in Minnesota visiting his dad over the Easter holiday.
We checked with our vet about what we should do with this little dog on the boat. The vet said that we should get some doggy-sedatives for the pooch. Okay - sounded reasonable. Oy ve - did we ever learn our lesson!
We gave Dylan half of the doggy-drug and he was loopy for almost the rest of our adventure. He staggered around like a drunken pirate - poor lil thing! He slept below deck and was pretty much useless. On the night that a gale force storm kicked up behind us while we were sailing on Lake George (which is still the St. John's River but it's huge at this point, so it's called a lake), we had to throw Dan and Dylan down below! It was horrendously dangerous and we had to test the metal of the soon-to-be-named Sun Dolphin.
The Sun Dolphin performed admirably and was calm and well-behaved according to her new Captain Jack. Her crew - me, the first mate - was perhaps less stellar, or at least not as experienced as the boat. But we survived, one of many sailing survival stories.
Here I become a little stuck in how to describe what sailing means to me. Words fail - pale - even diminish the experience. Then, add to that what it means to sail with one's family - spouse, children and faithful canine and I am at a loss. All I can tell you is this: we experience some of the most exhilarating, the most harrowing, the most tranquil, the most frantic, the most beautiful and the most brutish of times on the Sun Dolphin together. If that doesn't bond a family, I don't know what will. The Sun Dolphin has been our oasis from the craziness of the world, our place of laughter and solitude; our place of community-making and one of adventure.
The Captain tells me tonight that the Sun Dolphin is over forty years old. That is a long time to transport its crew through the the trials and tribulations of life. We have sailed her for almost half of her time in the water - 18 years! He says it's amazing that we've been able to keep her afloat. The old sailor's proverb goes something like this: "A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour all of your money." We don't have that much money to pour into her, so we pour our work, blood, sweat, tears, ingenuity and creativity into to maintaining her beauty and function. Many of our family peeps and friends throughout the years have helped us keep her alive. Thanks, friends and family peeps!
So, I wanted to pay tribute to Dylan and honor his memory. I've written extensively about the things I learned from and loved about him. But I wanted to add that Dylan loved sailing! In many of the photos of Dylan, friends often commented, "He always looks so happy on the boat." That was true. If we asked Dylan if he wanted to, "Go to the boat," he'd jump, twirl and smile just like you'd asked him if he wanted to go for a walk or on a ride in the car.
Dylan loved to go anywhere with us. It really didn't matter. But I think that he felt so at home in his bones on the Sun Dolphin. They both came into our lives together and shaped our family in amazing ways. I hope that sailing with us gave Dylan a sense of freedom, clarity, purpose and joy. He seemed to relish - I mean relish - being on the boat with us. If we helped give him that sense of joy, I am so, so, so very grateful and glad.
Ahoy there Lil Skipper Dylan! Sail the Sirius Skies until we meet again!
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