A teachable moment

With little else on my mind earlier in the day I began poking around Facebook with no particular purpose in mind. I noticed someone had been friended by a familiar name and I followed that name to another and another until I came across a woman whom I had known when she was a teenager working as crew on the tour boat I drove. That would have been in the late 80s and she was in her last two years of high school. I haven’t seen or talked with her since, though here and there I learned smatterings about her life.

She has a new last name now and is, of course quite a bit older, but the minute her page came up on the screen I recognized the singular beauty in her eyes burning off the screen mesmerizing me the same way she had done every time I saw her in that previous incarnation. A wonderful group of kids worked on those boats and even so she stood out among them. I remember she took the good-hearted teasing that went on constantly on the boat and gave back as equally as she received. Gruff old boat captains and surly engineers could not intimidate her. She was an athlete, starring on a volleyball team that went to the state championships though I can’t remember if i ever even knew how they did.

Later in the day as I drove to work memories of that time kept coming up and one was very distinct. Early one season we pulled up to the fuel dock and the tie offs there were to 3-inch diameter horizontal bars rather than the cleats where the crew was used to securing the boat. Once alongside and tied off, I stepped off and noticed her standing by the stern. Reasonably sure she was not used to this kind of mooring, I told her the boat should be tied to that bar using a clove hitch, fully expecting to see some kind of Gordian knot. I was preparing myself to show her how to tie the knot, maybe even looking forward to it. I can't remember if she put her hands on her hips or not but it would have fit the situation. With a hint of superior disdain she smiled aloofly at me and with just a hint of outrage, said, "I tied a clove hitch." I looked and sure enough she had. All I could do was laugh. But I am sure my eyes were showing embarrassment and apology, or at least I was hoping they were.

Now, who would you guess learned a lesson from that particular encounter?