Dear Friends we have Lost

Bobbi and Debbie, our dear friends...

We have lost two very dear cruising friends whom we love so much. Bobbi and Debbie are friends that we have spent ten New England summers with and shared many destinations, sunsets and passages. As my good friend Carey says, "You never know what the future holds, so you need to get out here and go cruising while you can!" and that is exactly one of the key reasons why we are out here cruising. For 18 brave months, Bobbi battled breast cancer and Debbie fought ALS, passing away only 4 months apart. It was our privilege to celebrate their lives at beautiful memorials, for Bobbi in Rhode Island and for Debbie here in Florida.

We miss Debbie and Bobbi immensely as they both are such beautiful friends, inside and out. When we see dolphins, we think of Bobbi, and when we see butterflies, we think of Debbie. We will treasure their loving friendships always.

We have taken comfort in this poem given to us when Radeen's father passed away in 1984. Once again it brought us peace during these sad times.

Gone From My Sight

by Henry Van Dyke

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,

spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts

for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.

I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck

of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone!"

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,

hull and spar as she was when she left my side.

And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.

And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone!"

there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices

ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

And that is dying...

The Ladies at Green Turtle Key, Abacos, March 2012

Bobbi and Carey enjoying Green Turtle Key, Abacos

Girlfriends aboard Island Spirit in Ft. Myers Beach, FL
Bobbi, Debbie, Radeen, Patricia and Mary Ann

Debbie and Craig, Greenport, NY, Merry Go Round IP Rendezvous

Debbie and Hayden aboard IP 440 CHAMRED

The TEAM at sunset on the Island of Boca Chita, Biscayne Bay, FL, February 2012.
IP-440 Charmed, IP-460 Cutter Loose, IP-380 CAVU, IP-35 Island Spirit and SP Cruiser Catspaw.