Smile!
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Fethiye,
Turkish Aegean Coast,
Turkey
Friday, October 3, 2008
"It's like we're celebrities, and God is taking our picture."
With that, Casey rolled over and continued to snore. I lay there, discontent and wide awake beneath the flashbulbs of the night sky. It was our second night on the sailboat cruiser off the Southern coast of Turkey, and a storm was a-brewin'. The trip had been quite pleasant until now: we spent the previous night ooing and awwing as we admired the clearest starry night I had ever seen. Tonight, however, I awoke from my brief slumber on the top deck to the violent back-and-forth of the vessel and the shouts of the waves: "This way, Ms. Coblentz!" they called from their respective places along our nautical red carpet, "Look here! Smile!"
Our captain anchored in a cove surrounded by rocky cliffs, and beyond them I could see the center of the lightening storm. I couldn't hear any thunder though. "That's a good sign," I silently placated. Then a giant, warm raindrop fell into my ear. With the next flash of light I could see the other passengers who had brought pillows and blankets on deck. The Brits were folding up their wool blankets and the Aussie was heading down under. There were only four of us left--all of us Americans. We are a stubborn breed.
"Casey!" I whispered again, now sitting up to assert the seriousness of my concern. "Casey, it's going to rain. Shouldn't we go to the cabin? I felt a drop!"
"You're such a worrier," he sighed, rolling over again.
Maybe he was right. I lay down again. I had just finished The Life of Pi, the story of a boy stranded at sea after a storm sinks his ship. There were a bunch of zoo animals on board so he ended up sharing a lifeboat with a tiger for 227 days. I was probably over-reacting about the storm. It wasn't really raining that hard, and there was no room for tigers on a boat this size.
"This reminds me of that story--" I whispered to Casey (we weren't moving he would have to keep me company, at least). "You know, the one where the disciples are on a boat, and there's a big storm. They are scared and want Jesus to calm it, but he is sleeping."
A few moments passed, then Casey rolled over in my direction, releasing a pensive sigh. "Well, I'm the one sleeping, and you have been squeezing my arm with every lightening bolt since it started, so if this is the storm then I am clearly the Christ figure."
Another flash lit the sky, illuminating Casey's wide smile and poking chuckle. I picked up my pillow, a white flag of surrender, and rolled my eyes at Casey. I finally headed down to my cabin, off to wake the Master.
Not 5 minutes passed before Casey followed me to the cabin. The storm had finally moved over the cliffs and settled smack dab above our ship. With it came hours of powerful rain. With the rain came the discovery that our cabin was full of leaks. With all the excitement, we didn't sleep a bit and found ourselves so overwhelmed all that we could do was laugh.
