We are still in the thick of Atlantic grey… seas flecked
with white foam, endless skies. It seems unbelievable that we have come so far
(2900 miles) and are only just over 300 miles away from New York.
We dock tomorrow at 6: 30 am, having sailed under the Verrazano
Bridge at just before 5am. The Captain tells us we should see the Statue of
Liberty at 5:15 am…we will muster in the Chart Room at 08: 45 and then go on
down to immigration.
Chapter 2 begins…
Nicholas
On June 14th, 1998 I flew back across this vast
expanse of salt and water a changed person. I had gone to a little island in
Scotland to heal from the painful ending of a painful marriage and, to my utter
delight and disbelief; I had fallen in love with an incredible man, a man who
lived on the other side of the salty ocean.
It is now June 16th 2012; we have just seen the
first contrail of a trans-Atlantic jet arriving in JFK from somewhere in
Europe. I flew 22 of those flights in two year’s time…I have been married to my
beautiful Nicholas for 12 years and his constancy and presence have awakened me
to different a side of me, a side of love, a side of being alive, I never knew
until I knew him.
As we approach the New York border we are nearing Montauk,
place of early holidays with him, place of my honeymoon, gateway to Manhattan
and all of my years of friendships and theatre and all the struggles
in-between. I am aware that it will be momentarily the same, remembered,
familiar...but, in such a profound way it is all new.
I return to this country, my country, altered, and yet not.
I return after 14 years of a life deeply lived with a renewed commitment to
never, ever, forget the wonder of saying, “Yes” to love and transformation.
This is a picture of me on the day we set sail from
Southampton, in the moment I fully felt the joy of coming home…
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