Not so Free and Careless Anymore

What are you going to write about? It should be about ships. If the trend of blog posts is an indicator (Gerry Connolly and Donald Trump, with one post in between), one might think I quit the sea. But that is not true. Mentally, July was the longest month. For the first two weeks, I was at sea in the Indian Ocean, working long days to coordinate cargo movements. Then, six days of travelling from a remote island (guess which one!) back to the USA. The final week of July was spent at home, and commuting to the office, to wrap up business from the voyage. I also commemorated ten years' of career work in the maritime field. August was a month of decompression, and a fast month. After two weeks of "demobilization" class, I officially finished duty with the Navy mid-month. As a civilian mariner, we simply flew home from the ship. On the military side, such an event is considered a career transition. By "decompression", I was referring to the day job. After 3 months' absence, I had a to-do list of upkeep tasks for my home and property. Surprisingly important for me, I made up Spring and Summer events I missed, or were put on hold while at sea. First and foremost was the Sacrament of Confirmation (August 9th) and then attending Mass with my recently-ordained Priest friend (August 31st). I also squeezed in a summer barbeque in August, in place of the usual July 4th spectacle. I think that September will be a good, routine month. We've got a lot of living to do...