Always prepared but never ready
We’re finally out of the Amazon, so the water is back to being blue again. It’s one of my favorite shades to see it—that dark classic true-blue sapphire color.
The morning sky is filled with white fluffy clouds around and behind us. But ahead of us hovers a mass of thick gray, holding up a curtain of rain.
It’s a storm. And we can see it coming, yet we’re headed straight for it.
Why? Because that’s where we’re supposed to go.
Somewhere far behind that curtain lies Fortaleza, our next port, and this is how we get there: By storm. This true-blue water is beginning to turn gray and cloudy like the sky.
We already did everything we could to avoid this storm, and everything we could to prepare. Someone charted this exact course for us, at this time, in this way, because they thought it was best. So we follow it. And we keep ourselves equipped and trained with all the safety measures possible.
But storms are never in your control; sometimes, they just happen.
If the weather posed enough of a threat, my friends in the Bridge would steer us clear. They know what to watch out for, and they know what the options are to keep us most safe. And they know that whatever lies ahead is basically harmless. It might be uncomfortable for awhile, but it probably won’t even be bad enough to be memorable.
The best kinds of storms are the ones that are rainy and sunny at the same time. If you look in the right spot, you can find a rainbow. But funnily enough, sometimes rainbows are more visible when you don’t look right at them.
Rarely in life do you actually see your storms coming. And when you do, you generally try to avoid them. But maybe it’s better this way, the ship way. Maybe it’s better when your options for dealing with storms, are limited. We have everything we need in case something goes wrong; we just don’t want to have to need it. We hardly use it, because it’s for emergencies only and we know what we’re doing.
But then, that’s probably a common phrase someone says right before entering a storm.
Doesn’t matter. Sail on.
