Angel Voice

As I age, I learn that I'm becoming "that" women...the one I used to make fun of for crying at everything...tearing up at a Christmas play or sobbing into a hanky while the children's choir sang. Yep, I'm a softy it seems! We went to my sister's for Thanksgiving and she has two kids. Shelby is almost 11 and Joshua just turned 6 a few months back. Anyway, all the Meier's are there, some busy in the kitchen and some hanging out. Shelby is lying across the recliner listening to her prized possession, her ipod. She lets me share, each of us listening with one earbud. She sings sweetly into my ears Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. I feel a strange sensation in my throat as I start to tear up. I am overwhelmed at her angelic voice and amazed how children grow so much!

Ah, but alas I do not cry like those women I used to laugh at, but almost. I suck down the frog in my throat as Shelby and I sing Taylor Swift "our song is a slammin' screen door, sneaking out late, tapping on your window, when we're on the phone and you talk real slow, cause it's late and your mama don't know". Ah, this moment is unforgetable and I have found my shalom!

Family Ties

Joel and I went to visit my grandmother, who is 94 years old, a few weeks ago. I realize that in the past I haven't seen her much as a person, but only as my grandmother or really "Mom" as we call her. This visit was different; we sat and talked at her apartment and I slowly saw I am like her in many ways. I was rather overwhelmed with this connection between grandmother and granddaughter. We reminisced about Harbor Beach, a place where we both grew up spending our summer vacations. At one point she got this nostalgic look on her face and said that she didn't go to Harbor Beach this summer, but her soul did. I realized that this is something I would say. I told her about my sailing lessons and how I love to be on the water. She chimed in about her love of sailing and how she learned to sail at Harbor Beach on her friend's boat. We talked some more and it was time for her to take her daily meds, one of them being a thyroid medicine which I take as well. Again, I was oddly happy to find out that we share this genetic connection.

This may sound weird, but I am glad to have these family ties with my grandmother, no matter how odd they may be. She is a smart, strong, independent, stubborn women whose soul longs to be on the water. I like to think I'm pretty similar! Joel tells me I have that stubbornness that only comes from Mom...Good or bad, I have Fisk running in my blood and I'm proud of it!

Learning the Ropes

The reason I chose Shalom on the Water as my blog title is hard to put into words, but I'll try. In the simplest explanation, I find my peace on the water. I grew up on the water every weekend during the summers: ski bobbing, water skiing, slaloming and eating snacks off a floatable tray. I also grew up at Maranatha and Harbor Beach every summer, two of my favorite places on the water. For me, the water provides a calmness and acceptance I find no place else.

I drive over the causeway to Brown's Creek, where I'm learning to be a sailor, and all my worries are washed away. I feel my body relax as I breathe in the refreshing air. The wind is in my hair and the masts clank against each other as I put my sail up for an afternoon on the water! At first I am unsure of my place as a new sailor, but once I put the line in my hand, I know I am home!

Out on the water, I practice gybing and coming about while Ernie (my teacher) and his dogs, Shug and Blossom, talk to me through a megaphone. "Gybe" he says..."come about" he calls and I amazingly follow. I watch my head as the boom crosses over the boat and I catch the wind on the other side! There is such excitement when the "wind gods" act in my favor, as Ernie would say. The power I have to move the boat by sailing in harmony with the wind is quite exhilarating and a little bit scary at the same time! I hang on and enjoy the ride, the wind filling my sail and my soul.

I know sailing is in my blood and I was born to do this! The water, you might say, completes me! :)