Angel

My friend calls her new boyfriend 'Angel'. I met him this weekend. He's not a new boyfriend, but this is the first time I've seen them together. they left together on a 26' sailboat last September. The boat got beached somewhere on the New Jersey coast in a storm (they weren't in it), and they spent a month living in a borrowed cottage while they dug the boat off (no money for a tow) then the rest of the winter in a marina on the boat (with a woodstove and their dog) doing repairs. They met lots of people; some were kind and some were unsympathetic. Then they came home to make some money and get their teeth fixed. They live on 30$ a day (it cost me $60 to fill my car up with gas to go visit them) in a tiny trailer (which must seem luxurious space after the boat). They get water from the river and dress up oatmeal with spices for dinner. She's lost 50 lbs. And she calls him 'Angel'.

She had her 50th birthday in January so a friend took us all to an outdoor Sunday morning concert; Mozart and Muffins (I would have called it "Mozart in the Morning", it was delicious!) then out for lunch to celebrate. They showed us the trailer and we drank homemade wine and got sunburned sitting on the rocks with our feet in the river. She told us of sunsets on the water and showed off her paintings. (painting had been her dream for the last twenty years) The dog is happy. They plan to sail again this fall to the Carribean for the winter, and next year to Europe. And she calls him 'Angel'.

I wish she'd write her story and I wish I had an 'Angel'.



That's her in the middle and me on the right (need a haircut) and our other friend in the kayak. 'Angel' was on camera duty in between pouring drinks.

I've been thinking about extravagance... I was talking to a guy I met on the internet last week and I told him I wasn't extravagant (sorry for not putting this statement in context, but that's a whole 'nother story). And I really believed it. But if not being extravagant means I have to eat oatmeal for dinner (no matter how much cumin was added) I guess I am. (and I guess if I weren't extravagant I'd cut my own hair and let it be grey too)

And could I do that for an 'Angel'? Well, I wonder ... ? The thing is; perhaps if I were eating with an 'Angel' food might not taste the same. And maybe what seems a necessity now might not be so important if there were a sunset on the water everynight.