final drapt

for as long as i can remember my dad's favorite thing to do is sail. i could never really understand why or how someone could love something so much. but on the summer before 7th grade i figured it out.


every summer i would go and visit my dad for two months, and as nice as it was to see him, i never truly enjoyed it because i didn't know anyone, and i would end up spending a majority of my summer inside watching t.v, but on this particular summer my dad had planned a little treat. he had signed me up in a sailing program. it was like the y.m.c.a. of sailing and when he told me that i had to do it, excitement wasn't my first reaction.


all i could think about was how stupid i would look trying to sail, by myself, with no friends to laugh about it with. on the first day i had to wake up way too early for summer, drive 30 minutes to some random place, and do something i didn't want to do. but there was no escaping it, and i had to do it.


yet as the days went on, and i began to meet some of the people, and learn more about sailing, i grew to love it. i quickly became an Erkle of sailing. i would eat, sleep, and breathe sailing. waking up at 6:10 and driving to anxious 30 minutes just to see if i could beet everybody to the sign in sheet, became an easy routine. i would sail from 7 to 7 day in day out. and i couldn't have been happier.

it wasn't really the act of sailing that i loved so much. it was the feeling that sailing gave me. it gave me a sense of independence which gave me a sense of self satisfaction. i had done this all on my own.

and then it hit me. my dad began sailing as a kid and will probably sail for the rest of his life. he learned at a young age that he was passionate about sailing. my dad wanted me to be passionate about something, thats why he had me sail. and thats why i believe in childhood passions.