Life on the Open waters, the great wide Ocean. I am not talking about a short cruise. I am talking about accompanying your husband for Four Long Years in a container Ship.
I had the great opportunity to sail as a Supernumerary with my husband for nearly four years. He was the Captain and was allowed to take his wife on board.
I was fascinated by the word Supernumerary. I was just a number but just that I was a special super number. Complimented and brought down to earth at the same time. Things were pretty much the same at the mess table. There was always a lot of friendly banter. It was a lot of fun. Felt like I was back at school, in the boarding. I soon realised the friendships we were making here was going to be the same. It was going to be a lifelong affair.
We were heading to the Middle East. Word spread that it was my 21st. My birthday was celebrated just after we left Aqaba, Jordan. What a unique way to celebrate one’s 21st. The chef had made a lovely cake, so just after dinner everyone gathered in the bar, cutting the cake, then followed by a lot of drinking, dancing and singing. Not the way I imagined my 21st to be. I wasn’t planning on being married by 21, let alone being married to a sailor and celebrating my 21st on a ship. This goes to show that you can’t always plan everything in life. I have no complains about the way my life has turned out, even though it was not what I had planned.
Sea and sea life teaches us the biggest metaphor, “Go with the flow”, yes sometimes, things don’t go the way you plan, but you ride the waves as it comes. You still plan and get prepared for the next big wave, but when you get hit by that unexpected Seismic Wave, you are still prepared to ride that wave.
Until this trip I really had no idea that I would fall in love with the sea the way I did. I come from the hills of Sri Lanka. We have no sea, just rivers and waterfalls, even then it was no big deal for a Water view. So I never gave that much thought to this mass abundance of open water – The Sea. Until I set sail with hubby. There was nothing but the vast open sea, day after day. There was something serene and pure about this setting. I came to love this journey. This was my life, my home, my family, for the next four years, till we migrated to Australia.
This was written for the Today’s word Prompt – Open https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/open/
This is also a part of another Story that I have written for the book “CSC Years” – Ceylon Shipping Corporation
Uma's life and thoughts 