My childhood family memories could be summed up by this one photo.
My wonderful loving father Bill Thorn loved to sail, and sail we did... every weekend and every vacation. He was widowed at 48 with 3 children between the ages of 7 (me) and 21. After we lost my mother the teenage friends of my siblings often joined the trips. I’m sure it was part of a great plan to keep the big kids on the boat.
While spending so much time on a boat might sound glamorous to non-sailors, it’s not. Sometimes it felt a little like Swiss Family Robinson. Lots of salt, sun, big waves, and mildew! We were sunburn and windburn at all times. We lived off deli sandwiches, chips, and canned soda on these trips around Long Island sound and up and down the coast to the Vineyard or Nantucket. I had an orange snoopy sleeping bag and was lulled to sleep by the waves and sounds of the clang of the rigging.
There were madcap adventures like my father falling off the boat, not once but twice while on the mooring by himself, trying desperately to figure out how to get out of the water and back on to the boat. My daddy navigated with a slide rule and a chart, a depth finder, and the stars. My brother and sister became amazing sailors and navigators. I, the youngest brought bags of barbies, books, and needlepoint and played for hours down below. I became the default family cook because I never got seasick. I have vivid memories of being very young and making and passing up sandwiches to my sister who was calling down the orders.
All strong swimmers, we swam off the boat without life jackets and no land in sight. This was so joyful until my dastardly brother and sister got stuck babysitting me and took me to Jaws in Edgartown. Have any of us recovered from that movie?
My father remarried my stepmother who brought a candy jar on the boat with tootsie pops and my life was vastly improved! Soon afterwards a boarder terrier joined the crew. I’m writing this from Orlando airport where we have been removed from a broken plane. Not unlike being run aground, I am stuck in place. I just realized I’m wearing the exact outfit my father is wearing in this photo. Sailor style sticks with you.